Nigel Farage's previous visits to Scotland - arrests, protests and fleeing from Royal Mile pub
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage will visit Scotland in June. Here, The Scotsman covers some of his notable past visits north of the Border.
Nigel Farage is set to visit Scotland in the first week of June, as his party sets his sights on Holyrood.
The Reform UK leader will come north of the Border just days before the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, taking place on Thursday next week, which his party is increasingly confident about winning.
It will be Mr Farage’s first visit to Scotland since becoming an MP. However, he has visited several times before, with mixed results. Here’s what happened on the past few occasions the former commodities trader came to Scotland.
May 2013
Visiting as Ukip leader, Mr Farage’s attempt to host a press conference in a bar on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile descended into chaos when it was hijacked by demonstrators who accused the-then Ukip leader of being a “racist”, “fascist” and “homophobe”.
Two attempts to leave the Canons’ Gait pub by taxi were thwarted as the vehicles were surrounded by around 100 protesters, some carrying a giant “Vote Yes for Scotland” banner. Others carried a placard proclaiming themselves to be the “Campaign for Radical Independence”.
Met with a barrage of abuse that included the refrain “you’re a racist, go home to England”, Mr Farage twice had to emerge from a besieged taxi to confront the crowd because drivers could not get him away from the scene.
On the second occasion, he responded to questions about his reception in Scotland, saying it was: “Clearly anti-British and anti-English. They hate the Union Jack [sic] … maybe that’s what it is all about.” It was then that police decided to escort him back into the Canons’ Gait where the doors were locked to keep protesters out, who continued to chant “scum, scum, scum”.
Speaking afterwards, Mr Farage described the protesters as "fascist scum".
He said: “If this is the face of Scottish nationalism, it's a pretty ugly picture. The anger, the hatred, the shouting, the snarling, the swearing was all linked in to a desire for the Union Jack to be burnt.
"The fact that 50 yobbo fascist scum turn up and aren't prepared to listen to the debate, I absolutely refuse to believe is representative of Scottish public opinion.”
June 2013
Mr Farage had been due to have a large lunch and press conference at the Marriott hotel in Aberdeen, only to cancel the event. He claimed an Aberdeen anti-fascist group had threatened to demonstrate outside.
The party claimed it was down to security concerns, despite Aberdeen's police headquarters being less than 50m away, and no sign of agitation. The hotel insisted it was not influenced by demonstrators, instead claiming the provisional booking could not be taken up because the hotel was too busy.
Speaking at the time, Mr Farage said: "I was invited to have go and take tea [with Marie Bolton, the independent depute leader of Aberdeen city council]. We now know that invitation was withdrawn.
"They told us that somebody very senior advised them not to continue, so we took that advice. I'm sorry that she was pressured or felt she was pressured into not allowing this meeting to go ahead."
However, a Police Scotland spokesman said: "The police haven't had any part [in that decision] whatsoever."
However, there was one confrontation and one arrest, when, after a debate in a pub with Mr Farage about Sharia law and the status of Norway in the EU, a man threw a drink on the back of a Ukip official.
April 2023
Mr Farage hosted his live GB News show at an Aberdeen golf clubhouse. He took questions from the audience and spoke with guests, including fellow GB News presenter Neil Oliver.
There was no disruption of any note to the event.
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