LONDON — A woman has been charged with assault after a milkshake was thrown over Nigel Farage at an election campaign stop.
The Brexiteer, running to represent the Essex seaside town of Clacton for the Reform party he now leads, was pelted with the drink as he launched his campaign Tuesday.
In a statement Wednesday, Essex Police said Victoria Thomas Bowen, aged 25, had been charged with assault by beating and criminal damage following a campaign event.
Farage — whose shock comeback to the U.K. political scene at the helm of the right-wing challenger party has rattled the ruling Conservatives as a July 4 general election looms — was leaving a Wetherspoons pub when he was hit by a McDonald’s banana milkshake Tuesday.
Essex Police said Bowen will appear at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on July 2.
Speaking to POLITICO after the rally Tuesday, Farage admitted to being rattled — but described such incidents, which drew condemnation from his political opponents, as an occupational hazard on campaign walkabouts.
“If somebody chucks something and it hits you in the face, it could be anything, it is a bit scary,” he said.
The Reform UK Leader continued: “Nobody does the walkabouts like I do. But there is a risk to them, a risk of violence. And look, come on, if I wasn’t thoughtful about it, I wouldn’t be human.”
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