Theo Paphitis has said he is “terrified” by the prospect of a Nigel Farage premiership, hitting out at the Reform UK leader for copying the “Trump playbook.”
The businessman and Dragons’ Den star was responding to Reform’s announcement that they would scrap indefinite leave to remain in the UK were they to win the next general election – something they have been roundly criticised for.
Speaking to LBC, Paphitis said: “You’re talking to a first-generation immigrant. I always get a bit nervous when people throw words like that. I think we’ve got to be careful about what we say.”
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Drawing comparisons to the ICE deportations taking place in cities across America, Paphitis continued: “What we don’t want is our streets full of unmarked cars, people with balaclavas, with no identification, pulling people off the streets and making them disappear.
“That is not the United Kingdom, and that is definitely not something I would like to see coming across from America.”
Paphitis said there was no question that Farage is “selling snake oil”, before he was then asked by host Lewis Goodall if he would be afraid of a Farage premiership.
He replied: “I’d be terrified of a Farage government, because of the things that he’s saying. He’s just following the Trump playbook.
“We’re hearing things like ‘people eating swans’, we’ve heard Trump talking about cats and dogs. We’ve got to cut this nonsense out.”
Last week, a major poll found that if a if there was an election tomorrow there would be a hung parliament with Reform UK winning 311 out of 650 seats.