A British woman was sentenced to three months in prison on Monday for throwing a milkshake at the leader of the far-right Reform UK party, Nigel Farage, during the campaign for the legislative elections in June 2024.
Victoria Thomas Bowen, 25, pleaded guilty in October to the act and to the damage caused to the jacket belonging to Nigel Farage’s security guard.
This British woman, who told police that she “did not agree with Farage’s political opinions”, was sentenced to 13 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months. She will also have to pay compensation of 150 pounds (170 francs) to the MP, pay 510 francs in legal costs, and carry out 120 hours of community service.
Nigel Farage, 60, was doused with a banana milkshake on June 4, shortly after announcing his candidacy for MP, in the seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea. where he was elected.
The Brexit champion criticized the suspended sentence. “We live in a country where you can attack a parliamentarian without going to prison,” he reacted on Monday.
In a statement read to the court, he said he “felt humiliated” by the “broadcast of this incident in the national and international media”, while being concerned about “a growing security problem”.
A few days after this incident, he was targeted by objects being thrown, including a coffee cup taken from a trash can, for which a 28-year-old man was sentenced to six weeks in prison.
After failing to get elected seven times, Nigel Farage became an MP in July’s general election. These saw his nationalist and anti-immigration Reform UK party gather more than 14% of the vote and enter Parliament with five seats.
This is not the first time that this divisive political figure has been targeted in this way. In 2019, a man was sentenced to 150 hours of community service for throwing a salted caramel banana milkshake at him in the middle of the campaign for the European elections, the last in the United Kingdom.
