Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is set to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, despite years of deriding the annual gathering as a smug, conspiratorial meeting of enemies of the nation state. His deputy, Richard Tice, confirmed on Sunday that Farage hopes to speak with US President Donald Trump, who is also attending.
Farage’s itinerary remains unclear, but Tice told the BBC that the aim is to use the event to discuss Trump’s threats of tariffs against the UK and other European nations, linked to efforts to annex Greenland. “Let’s hope they have an opportunity to have some words … to say: ‘Look, we understand what you’re trying to achieve; this is the wrong way to go about it,’” Tice said.
The appearance marks a reversal for Farage, who has long criticised the World Economic Forum and its glitzy gala as epitomising elite capture of politics by a class intent on obliterating nation states in the name of “globalism”. In 2023 he called Labour leader Keir Starmer a “full-on globalist, hanging out with his mates at the WEF”. Three years earlier he described Davos as a place where decisions are made that “bow down to the European Union”.
Farage’s rhetoric on such subjects has prompted criticism from groups including the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who said his discussion of plots by bankers to create global government at times veered into territory associated with antisemitic conspiracy theories. Farage rejects any such intent.
However, Farage has made an exception for Trump, praising his 2018 Davos speech as “superb”. He also praised Prince Andrew for comments at a 2012 Davos reception. Despite his past hostility, the Reform UK leader’s attendance reflects the networking opportunities at the event, as his party is tipped to form the next UK government.
