'It's a mug's game'

Reform UK leader grapples with his Trump problem

- Ben Quinn

By day 31 of the war in the Middle East, Nigel Farage had become somewhat less vocal about the closeness of his relationship with Donald Trump.

"Trying to read what's really in the minds of people in the White House right at the moment is a mug's game," said the MP, as he unveiled his party's latest pledge to cut the cost of living yesterday.

Perched on a stool against the backdrop of departing flights, Farage had come to Heathrow airport to promote a plan to scrap taxes on short-haul flights.

Yet when the questions inevitably came about the conflict's impact on the economy, the Reform leader was forced to grapple with what has suddenly become the primary barrier to people voting for his party: Trump. The US president is now underwater in terms of his favourability even with Reform voters, the only set of UK party supporters who had viewed him positively, according to polling by More in Common.