Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who has been married and separated twice, is facing strong criticism after claiming that “the most stable relationships” are between a man and a woman.
Speaking at a press conference to welcome former Conservative MP Danny Kruger to Reform UK, Farage was questioned about Kruger’s past remarks on same-sex couples.
In 2023, Kruger told the National Conservatism Conference that heterosexual marriage was “the only basis for a safe and successful society”.
When asked if he supported those comments, Farage replied: “The most stable relationships tend to be between men and women.”
Farage, separated from his second wife, acknowledged the irony, saying:
“I think one thing for certain is children who have two stable parents have a better chance in life. And the most stable relationships, maybe not my example, but the most stable relationships, the ones that last the longest, tend to be between men and women.”
He went on to clarify:
“I’m not absolutist about this in any way at all. I just happen to think of kids in the country not getting the start at home or at school that they deserve.”
Strong Condemnation from MPs and the LGBTQ+ Community
Labour MP Nadia Whittome criticised Farage’s comments as “vile homophobia”.
“Make no mistake: Farage is seeking to reopen settled debates on gay marriage and adoption, in order to stir up further hatred and division,” Whittome told The Independent. “The rights of the whole LGBT+ community would be in danger under a Reform government.”
Statistics from the UK’s Office for National Statistics show that in 2023, of 103,816 total legal partnership dissolutions (including divorces and civil partnership endings), just 1.8% — or 1,891 — involved same-sex relationships.
Farage’s History of Anti-LGBTQ+ Remarks
Farage’s remarks are part of a broader pattern. In July this year, he described same-sex marriage as “wrong”.
The Reform UK leader — who was labelled a “Putin-loving Trump sycophant” by a U.S. congressman in September — is currently polling strongly ahead of the next UK general election.
The party’s platform, titled Our Contract With You, focuses on curbing immigration, rejecting multiculturalism, and opposing what it describes as “divisive, ‘woke’ ideology”. The document also claims that “transgender indoctrination is causing irreversible harm to children”.
Danny Kruger, MP for East Wiltshire, is the first sitting Conservative MP to defect to Reform UK.
