Populist right in Britain aims to build momentum after US election result

Nigel Farage will today address his party's first big rally since Donald Trump's election win as Britain's emboldened populist right seek to drive momentum and build on links with the US president-elect.

- Ben Quinn

In an offer declined by Labour, the Reform UK leader suggested he could work "behind the scenes" to build ties with Trump's administration on behalf of the UK government.

Farage will make the speech in Newport in south Wales after attending a victory party in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, with Trump and other figures likely to be prominent in the incoming White House administration.

Trump's plans to slash the US public sector and appoint Elon Musk to "sack vast numbers of people" are a blueprint for what needed to happen in the UK, Farage has said.

But while Reform is the closest British equivalent to the movement behind Trump, his win was also met with elation by the far right.

Tommy Robinson posted a video message on his X account which had been recorded in anticipation of a Trump win. Robinson, who was jailed last month on contempt of court charges, said: "I'm in my prison cell doing cartwheels."

Close associates of Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, are using the social media platform to call on Trump to put pressure on Keir Starmer to release a man they say is a "political prisoner".