Claim 53502c9bChecked 21 Jul 2026
Partly True/FalseOn the truth scale
“Since being elected to the European Parliament, Farage has always said he will not represent the whole constituency.”
Reasoning & Evidence21 Jul 2026
The claim asserts that since being elected to the European Parliament, Nigel Farage has consistently stated he will not represent the whole constituency, only those who voted for him.
**Supporting evidence:** In the interview itself (2 December 2011), Farage explicitly says: "since I was elected to the European Parliament I've always said that I'm not going to represent the whole constituency... I'm there to represent the people who voted for me." This confirms he did make this statement.
**Contradicting evidence:** Farage's own MEP website (nigelfaragemep.co.uk) states: "Whilst I was leader of UKIP, I have always been first and foremost a constituency MEP. I was elected by the people of the South East counties and I am available if you need help or if you have any questions." This presents him as a "constituency MEP" available to all constituents, which sits in tension with the claim that he has "always said" he will not represent the whole constituency. The website further showcases casework on behalf of constituents (e.g., helping a West Sussex chocolatier with an EU regulation issue), suggesting he does perform representation services for the broader constituency.
**Assessment:** The word "always" is the crux. While Farage did express this sentiment in the interview, his own public website uses similarly absolute language ("I have always been first and foremost a constituency MEP") that positions him as serving the whole constituency. These two statements point in different directions: one disclaims representing the whole constituency, the other embraces the role of constituency MEP available to all. There is publicly available evidence on both sides of whether he has "always" maintained the position described in the claim.
**Sources:**
- Nigel Farage MEP website, "The EU and you" — https://nigelfaragemep.co.uk/pages/the-eu-and-you.php
- High Profiles interview with Nigel Farage — https://highprofiles.info/interview/nigel-farage/
- Electoral history of Nigel Farage, Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_history_of_Nigel_Farage
From article
It would be silly to say that – you could never, ever represent the whole country – and since I was elected to the European Parliament I’ve always said that I’m not going to represent the whole constituency (and remember it’s vast – six million voters), I’m there to represent the people who voted for me and to use that position to try to persuade others that we are actually right.
But the interesting thing about [the UK Independence Party] is that it attracts an incredibly diverse range of people. We pick up what I would call ‘patriotic Old Labour’, we pick up classical liberals who hate the big state and believe in individual freedom and we pick up traditional Tories who believe in the country. And don’t forget that when we started [in 1993], only about six of us in the country believed in this.
Sources opened