Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has criticised diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and argued men “sacrifice their family lives” for their careers more than women.
Speaking at an event in Parliament, the MP for Clacton-on-Sea argued that more men used to be at the top of boardrooms because “the country was white men”.
Addressing journalists at an event in the House of Commons, Farage praised US President Donald Trump’s efforts to scrap DEI in American workplaces.
He said: “We have firms like BP pretending they’re all about renewable energy rather than producing oil, and the lunacies of DEI policy, of employing people on the basis of their colour, or their chosen sexuality – I’d rather not know myself – is coming to an end.
“We’re seeing the tide turning. You know, when even Mark Zuckerberg announces that he’s axing the DEI department at Meta, you know that a big change is coming, and we’re moving that more towards a system based on meritocracy than based on identity.”
Nick Line, chair of inclusion at insurer Lloyd’s of London, recently told City AM the London marketplace has “made huge strides over recent years, but we must keep at it.”
He stressed: “It’s crucial – now more than ever – that we use the momentum we’ve worked so hard to establish, to deliver what we’ve set out to achieve,” he concluded.
‘Women stayed at home’
Asked about his settlement with NatWest following a two-year row over debanking, Farage claimed he was caught in the “crossfire” of identity politics and argued: “I think a woke virus has gone through corporate America and corporate Britain”.
But he would not disclose how much he had been awarded in the legal settlement.
The Reform leader was asked why he thought more white men were in senior positions in the world of work before the introduction of equality policies.
He replied: “Because the country was white men, the country in business was white men, because the world was very different.
“Men went to work. Women stayed at home and brought up kids. The world has evolved and changed since then.
“The world is changing, women in work, et cetera, changes in the population. But the idea that in certain groups privileges, not based on merit, but based on skin colour, or sexuality, or whatever is wrong, it doesn’t work.”
‘Stuck in the 1970s’
Farage was also asked whether most top jobs would go to white men on merit. He said that, in many cases, women make “very different life choices” to men.
“Look at business,” the politician said. “Men are prepared to sacrifice their family lives in order to pursue a career and be successful in a way that fewer women are. And those women that do have probably got more of a chance of reaching the top than the blokes.”
But Farage was criticised by Natalie Fleet, Labour MP for Bolsover, who said he “seems to be stuck in the 1970s”.
Fleet added: “He clearly has no idea about the sacrifices women make – how on earth can his party represent them?
“Perhaps he can explain to women across Britain how his plan to dismantle the NHS would leave them paying thousands more for their healthcare.”
The Reform UK leader, who aimed to play up his party’s prospects at the next general election, also branded the Tories “stuffy, boring old bastards” ahead of May’s local elections.