Nigel Farage threatens mass boycott of BBC in huge Newsright row over Henry Nowak
Nigel Farage’s team claimed that Newsnight host Matt Chorley deliberately changed the senior politician’s words in a row over the Henry Nowak murder.
Nigel Farage is embroiled in a fresh battle with the BBC (Image: Parliament TV)
Nigel Farage and Reform UK are threatening to boycott every BBC show in a fresh row over “seriously defamatory” comments allegedly made by a presenter.
Mr Farage’s team claimed that Newsnight host Matt Chorley deliberately changed the senior politician’s words in a row over the Henry Nowak murder.
And senior allies are demanding an on-air apology, a written apology posted online for seven days and full probe into why Mr Chorley repeatedly used the phrase “white cold rage” instead of “pure, cold rage”.
If these demands are not met, they will refuse to appear on BBC shows.
Matt Chorley was selected as one of the new BBC Newsnight hosts (Image: BBC)
Mr Farage’s legal team said, in a letter seen by the Daily Mail: “It converts a criticism of discriminatory conduct by the authorities into an apparent appeal to race.
“It suggests that Mr Farage, far from condemning racialised treatment, was himself invoking race as a basis for public anger.
“In a national debate in which his opponents are already accusing him of inflaming racial tension, that alteration is not inaccuracy at the margins.
“It is seriously defamatory, and on the material available it was deliberate.”
The four-page letter from Mr Farage’s counsel also suggests evidence that the misquote had been ‘delivered from notes’, suggesting it was scripted before the question was put to Mrs Badenoch.
They argue: ‘That raises an obvious and serious question as to how those words entered the programme’s production materials, and why no one checked them’.
Mr Chorley, during an interview with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, claimed three times that Mr Farage had called on Britons to demonstrate ‘white cold rage’ in response to Henry Nowak’s death.
But the Reform UK leader said “pure, cold range”.
BBC host Matt Chorley said: “I owe Nigel Farage an apology.
“During last night’s Newsnight we covered the murder of Henry Nowak and the political reaction to the case, including discussing Nigel Farage’s comments about ‘pure, cold rage’.
“However, I referred to “white cold rage”.
“This was a mistake on my part, a misremembering of the quote. It didn’t change the content of the interview but I should have got the quote right. I apologise to Nigel Farage for this.”
Reform’s lawyer warned Mr Farage and other representative from Reform UK will boycott BBC programmes.
