Rod Stewart has come out in support of Reform UK, urging his followers to give the right-wing party’s leader, Nigel Farage, “a chance”.
The British rocker’s comments come just days before he is due to play the prestigious Legends Slot on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury on Sunday (29 June).
Stewart, 80, made the statement after he was asked about the current political climate in the UK.
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Speaking to The Times, Stewart admitted: “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.
He then proceeded to criticise Keir Starmer’s new Brexit deal, commenting: “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.”
Stewart was unenthusiastic about the options he believed were available to voters, before revealing that he already has a personal connection to Farage.
“We’re fed up with the Tories,” he said. “We’ve got to give Farage a chance. He’s coming across well. What options have we got? I know some of his family, I know his brother, and I quite like him.”
When quizzed about Farage’s immigration policies and widely criticised economic plans, Stewart replied: “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.”
Stewart’s support of Farage is in contrast to his comments in 2024, when he criticised the politician for claiming that the West had provoked Russia into starting the war in Ukraine.
The “Sailing” singer has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine since the conflict began in 2022, even renting out a home for a family of Ukrainian refugees.
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At the time, the singer told The Sun: “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.”
Stewart, who cancelled three shows in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Lincoln, California, in January after being diagnosed with strep throat and testing positive for Covid, will take to the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury on Sunday 29 June with a 90 minute set from 15.45pm to 17.15pm.
“It is a different gig,” he said earlier this year. “It’s like when you’re playing a cup final: you’re trying to treat it like another game. But, of course, it’s not. It’s special.”
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