Ian Warburton

Reform’s silence on Trump and Ukraine must end and end urgently: Nigel Farage has invested a great deal in his relationship with Trump and on so many issues from immigration, tax, net zero and trans on the domestic front to a more hawkish approach to China and Iran on the global stage, there was good reason to do so… but the last few days have changed everything. I had a lot of sympathy with candidate Trump’s ambition to end an incredibly deadly war which had begun to resemble WW1 in the scale of fatalities being incurred without any obvious conclusion to fighting in sight. But Trump has moved well beyond that humanitarian goal. It’s clear he has chosen to ally himself with the blood-stained tyrant in the Kremlin rather than the invaded people of Ukraine and their grievous suffering. Trump’s dishonest attacks on Ukraine and Zelensky in recent days could have been written for him by Putin. All of the free and democratic world must condemn Trump and if the US administration continues on this despicable course normal friendly relations cannot be maintained in the usual way. By joining other British political parties in disowning the US’ posture on Ukraine Farage and Reform may even provide the wake up call that the likes of Rubio, Vance, Thune and Johnson need to hear too.