Nigel Farage has had a milkshake thrown over him at his campaign launch in Clacton-on-Sea.
Former UKIP leader Farage announced on Monday that he would take over as party leader of Reform UK and stand as an MP – his eighth attempt – in the Essex constituency.
A 25-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of assault after a milkshake, Essex Police have said, according to the PA news agency.
Speaking to a rally at Clacton Pier, Farage urged voters to “send me to Parliament to be a bloody nuisance” and suggested Reform could even take over the Conservative Party.
In his first major speech, he claimed the election was effectively over declaring: “We are going to get a Labour government… who is going to be the voice of opposition?”
Farage, met by shouts from the hundreds-strong crowd of “we love you Nigel” and “get ‘em Nige”, said the Tories should “pay a big price” for betraying Brexit and migration promises.
But following his rally, he retreated to the Moon and Starfish pub, where upon his exit from the venue, he was hit with a drink, which appeared to be a McDonald’s banana milkshake.
Farage was pictured grimacing as the yellow liquid splashed into his face, and was seen with the drink splattered over his suit jacket as he was escorted to his campaign bus.
Richard Tice, Nigel Farage’s predecessor as Reform UK leader, said: “The juvenile moron who threw a drink over Nigel has just gained us hundreds of thousands more votes. We will not be bullied or threatened off the campaign trail.”
Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Disgraceful assault on Nigel Farage today. Completely unacceptable and wrong.
“No one should face intimidation or assault in an election campaign. Thank you to the police for responding.”
Farage also said if elected as an MP he would ensure Sir Keir Starmer does not shift the UK closer to the European Union (EU) and insisted it was “entirely possible” to cut net migration to zero which “still leaves lots of room for special skills where we may have a shortage”.
He claimed he would be a “champion” for Clacton, which he described as a “forgotten, end-of-the-line town”, and pledged: “I’ll be here as many Fridays as I can, of course I will.”
Farage’s candidacy comes after Conservative MP for Clacton, Douglas Carswell, defected to UKIP in 2014, and held the seat in a by-election, becoming the party’s first elected MP.
He left UKIP in 2017 to be an independent and stood down at the 2017 general election.