Rod Stewart in The Times, photo by DREW GURIAN/INVISION/AP
Nigel Farage is a British politician who was one of the architects of the disastrous and racist (but winning) Brexit campaign. He's a fascist and grifter who admires Trump and Putin. It is very disappointing that Rod Stewart would ask British voters in The Times (ahead of his triumphant Glastonbury performance on June 29) to "give Farage a chance", presumably to be PM, in order to screw up the country more effectively, perhaps. Rod Stewart is not an expert on geopolitics, but he is an artist that people have listened to since the 1960s.
A rich man coming out for a far-right politician is hardly shocking, but we were led to believe Rod was a little bit different. We can all laugh at the excesses of "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" but I've long been a fan Rod's bluesy work in the late 60s and early 70s with The Jeff Beck Group, The Faces (who are said to have a new album coming out in 2026 feat Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, and drummer Kenney Jones) as well as Rod's early solo records.
The other surprising aspect here is Rod's strong support for Ukraine and calling out those (like Farage) who blame Ukraine and The West for "provoking" Putin into invading Ukraine. He sounded very different in an interview just last year with "The Sun" (see below).
How do you go from "Shame on you, Nigel!" to "We’ve got to give Farage a chance" in a year's time?
“I’m obviously not a politician but I am entitled to my opinion.
“I’ve supported Ukraine since the war began by sending supplies, renting a house for a whole family, giving jobs to Ukrainians at my home.
“I dedicate a song every night to the struggle and show the blue and yellow flag on massive video screens during my concerts.”
He added: “The blue and yellow flag on my massive video screens during my concerts .
“I’m outraged and dumbfounded that Farage blames the West for the war - is he suggesting that NATO is the aggressor here?
“NATO’s purpose is to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means, not to start a war on paranoid Putin’s Russia. Shame on you Nigel."
Where does Stewart see Britain’s political future going? “It’s hard for me because I’m extremely wealthy, and I deserve to be, so a lot of it doesn’t really touch me. But that doesn’t mean I’m out of touch. For instance, I’ve read about Starmer cutting off the fishing in Scotland and giving it back to the EU. That hasn’t made him popular. We’re fed up with the Tories. We’ve got to give Farage a chance. He’s coming across well.” Nigel? “What options have we got? I know some of his family, I know his brother, and I quite like him.”
What, I ask, does Nigel Farage stand for, apart from Brexit, tightened immigration policies and unrealistic economic promises?
“Yeah, yeah,” Stewart says. “But Starmer’s all about getting us out of Brexit and I don’t know how he’s going to do that. Still, the country will survive. It could be worse. We could be in the Gaza Strip."
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