Nigel Farage became the latest British politician to be pelted by a milkshake today, as he toured the center of Newcastle ahead of the European elections on May 23.
The Brexit party leader was talking to members of the public in the northeastern city when his assailant, carrying a Five Guys milkshake, surged forward and threw the beverage over him.
Afterwards, Farage was overheard criticizing the ‘complete failure’ of his security team for not protecting him from the incident, which they should have ‘spotted a mile off’. He later commented on Twitter that ‘sadly some Remainers have become radicalized, to the extent that normal campaigning is becoming impossible.’
Sadly some remainers have become radicalised, to the extent that normal campaigning is becoming impossible.
For a civilised democracy to work you need the losers consent, politicians not accepting the referendum result have led us to this.
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) May 20, 2019
Watch the moment Farage was hit here:
https://twitter.com/TheKennyScott/status/1130461115228540929
Several right-wing and far-right political figures have been subjected to the milkshake treatment in the lead-up to Thursday’s vote. Carl Benjamin, aka YouTuber Sargon of Akkad, who is standing for Ukip in South West England, has been assailed in Salisbury and Totnes. In Truro, a woman was unsuccessful in her attempt to hit Mr Benjamin with a combination of milkshake and kippers, a local delicacy.
Looks like UKIP European election candidate Carl Benjamin was the latest to get the milkshake treatment during a visit to Salisbury today
Picture from @Stegsythedog pic.twitter.com/rPikipMXzy
— Rebecca Hudson (@WiltsRebecca) May 19, 2019
Tommy Robinson, running as an independent in North West England, suffered two milkshake dousings in as many days, the first in the Cheshire town of Warrington:
How was my man so casual 😂
🎶 Tommy Robinson's milkshake brings all the boys to the yard 🎶 pic.twitter.com/M1sYUyp02w
— Az (@AzTheBaz) May 2, 2019
And the second in Bury on the outskirts of Manchester:
https://youtu.be/CKgoFTwkUm8?t=66
The milkshakings echo similar non-violent political protests in Europe. Noël Godin is credited as a pioneer of entartage: where public figures such as the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy were pelted with custard pies to draw attention to the theatrical falsity of politics.
Cockburn can’t help but wonder whether such protests are rather a waste of food. After all, with the inevitable post-Brexit shortages we keep reading about in the New York Times, the price of dairy might soar if the likes of Farage and Robinson are triumphant and implement a hard exit from the EU.
