‘I’ve known him for 14 years, Badenoch has known him a fortnight!’ Reform UK MP Nigel Farage comments on historic meeting with JD Vance
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has today revealed that he and Vice President-elect JD Vance held a historic meeting whilst he visited the US, after the Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch discussed her “renewed friendship” with Trump’s right-hand man.
Farage and Vance met at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and speaking about the meeting with GB News, the Reform MP said: “I have known him for 14 years, Kemi Badenoch has known him a fortnight.”
Nigel Farage said: “I met with JD. I have know JD since 2010, I knew him way before he was getting into politics.
“He is a friend of mine, I spent quite a lot of time with him. I have known him for 14 years, Kemi Badenoch has known him for a fortnight. Nobody in the Labour Party knows him at all.
“The point that I have made, and I have made this point to Starmer and others, is that because of the tariff battle that is coming we know that Trump uses tariff to gain all sorts of other concessions, he’s very good at this.
“We are potentially going to get caught in the cross hairs, we are aligning more closely with the EU which in my view is a foolish thing to do.
“All I have said is that I will help this government with contacts, it isn’t just Trump and JD half the cabinet are friends of mine.
“If I could do that and it is in the national interest to do that then I will do it. No question about it, I do not support Keir Starmer’s government but I do support us having good trade links with America.
“I do believe that without America, we are frankly defenseless as a nation.”
Kemi Badenoch also met with Vance last week, and had dinner with him in Washington DC to discuss their shared policy ideas.
The meeting comes after Farage and Reform UK treasurer Nick Candy held talks with Elon Musk yesterday and the trio engage in discussions about Trump’s “ground game” whilst hinting at potential future collaborations.
Speculation has been mounting about Musk’s potential financial backing of Reform UK, with rumours suggesting he could donate as much as £100million to the party.
The billionaire has already demonstrated his willingness to make substantial political donations, having been the largest donor in the 2024 US election cycle.
Musk’s involvement in US politics is set to expand significantly, with plans for him to co-run the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the incoming Trump administration.
The department aims to drastically reduce the size of the state.
Musk has already demonstrated his commitment to Republican causes, having spent at least $277m to back the party during the 2024 US election cycle.
In their joint statement, Farage and Candy emphasised the gravity of their mission, declaring: “We only have one more chance left to save the West and we can do great things together.”
The meeting marks a significant moment in transatlantic political relations, with Reform UK’s top brass engaging directly with one of the world’s most influential tech entrepreneurs at the private residence of the former US president.