Farage and Voaden clash over alleged May parliament altercation

Nigel Farage, Reform UK leader, disclosed on 28 October that he skipped Chancellor John Healey's Budget speech in the House of Commons to avoid a potential repeat of a previous "physical altercation" with another MP during the State Opening of Parliament in May. He cited the removal of his seat reservation—a prayer card without proper date stamp—as a trigger for staying away.

Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden subsequently identified herself as the MP involved in the May incident. In a statement, Voaden claimed that Farage "shoved" her out of the way on a staircase to bypass the queue of other party leaders, describing the behaviour as unacceptable. She stated she had been "shocked and bloody angry" and said Farage was required to apologise to her after she complained to Commons authorities. Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper corroborated Voaden's account on Sky News, saying her understanding was that Farage "physically shoved one of our female MPs out of the way" and that one of their male MPs then challenged him.

Reform UK and its sources disputed the characterisation. A Reform insider told BBC and Telegraph journalists that "the video disproves that clearly" and accused the Lib Dems of "lying." Video footage, first published by the Daily Telegraph, shows Farage and Voaden leaving the chamber together at the State Opening but contains no visible evidence of a major altercation. Voaden countered that the incident was not captured in the clip published by the Telegraph and does not appear on the official parliamentary feed of the State Opening.

Reform MP Robert Jenrick declined to engage substantively with the accusations, telling Sky News he was "sick to death of these pathetic Westminster debates" and preferred to focus on policy issues. The House of Commons said Farage's prayer card was removed because it lacked a valid date stamp and confirmed no official record of the incident was made.