Nigel Farage has revealed he did not attend the Budget today because he wanted to avoid 'potential conflict'. Asked why he was not in the Commons as the Chancellor addressed MPs, he said: 'At the state opening of Parliament, I got involved….I didn't want to… but I got involved in a physical altercation with an MP in the chamber.'
Farage's account of the incident
Farage said he did not 'make a fuss about it' or complain, but he could see that, given his prayer card had been removed, he was heading towards another physical altercation. He added: 'Just sometimes it's better to avoid conflict. That's one reason.'
Reason for skipping the Budget
The second reason, he said, was that he sat going through the Budget with his team of economists in the office, allowing him to go through it line by line. He added: 'So it was actually more useful for me to sit in the office with a team of economists around me.'
Farage said he had planned to go to PMQs but could see potential conflict. 'And being a very quiet, shy, modest kind of person, I decided to give it a wide berth,' he said.
