Abstract
This chapter deals with the response of populist actors in the UK to the COVID-19 pandemic. Populism in the UK is divided among Nigel Farage and Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Farage and Johnson, both campaigning for Britain to leave the EU, had distinct responses to the pandemic, the former being more in line with common themes of populist discourse. True to his anti-immigrant stance, Farage antagonized national and international agencies for allegedly smuggling migrants into the UK, blamed China for the pandemic and echoed the US president Trump’s trade war in calling for a boycott on Chinese goods. Farage criticized government lockdown and social distancing measures for allegedly being too harsh. In doing so, Farage employed common far-right conspiracist tropes and populist rhetoric aimed at UK politicians, the EU and China. Johnson, on the other hand, displayed a rather measured response and did not engage in antagonizing political entities.
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(Source European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Phase 1: pre-COVID-19; Phase 2: spread and containment measures; Phase 3: contagion mitigation)
Notes
- 1.
PWC, COVID-19: Global travel restrictions, entry bans and quarantine measures, 18 March 2020.
- 2.
Farage, N., The Virus Is Yet Another Reason to Rethink the West’s Relationship With China. Newsweek, 18 March 2020.
- 3.
Harris, K, Nigel Farage Lashes Out at China over Coronavirus: ‘We Need to Get TOUGH!’. Express, 2 June 2020.
- 4.
Farage, N., The Virus Is Yet Another Reason to Rethink the West’s Relationship With China. Newsweek, 18 March 2020.
- 5.
Harris, K, Nigel Farage Lashes Out at China over Coronavirus: We Need to Get TOUGH!’. Express, 2 June 2020.
- 6.
Farage, N., The Virus Is Yet Another Reason to Rethink the West’s Relationship With China. Newsweek, 18 March 2020.
- 7.
Ibid.
- 8.
Nigel Farage, Talk Radio Interview, 30 April 2020.
- 9.
‘Lunacy’, Says Nigel Farage After Police Visit over Lockdown Trip. Politico, 5 May 2020.
- 10.
Gove Warns 5G-Coronavirus Conspiracy Theory Is ‘Dangerous Nonsense’. The Guardian, 4 April 2020.
- 11.
Nigel Farage ‘Astonished’ at UK Government’s Response to Coronavirus ‘Just a Leaflet?!’. Daily Express, 23 January 2020..
- 12.
Is the EU Holding Up Britain’s Coronavirus Response?. Daily Mail, 5 February 2020.
- 13.
Nigel Farage Facing Backlash After Blaming China for Coronavirus Pandemic. The National, 19 March 2020.
- 14.
Farage, N., Of Course We Must Stop Coronavirus, But Not at the Cost of Becoming a Police State. The Telegraph, 30 March 2020.
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Sahin, O., Ianosev, B. (2021). UK: Between Managed Moderation and Far-Right Conspiracy Theories. In: Bobba, G., Hubé, N. (eds) Populism and the Politicization of the COVID-19 Crisis in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66011-6_2
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