Albanian prime minister Edi Rama delivered the perfect response to Nigel Farage as their social media spat continued.
Rama and Farage have clashed on X following a set of contentious claims the Reform UK leader made during a GB News segment.
Farage not best pleased with scathing comments Rama had made about Brexit in recent weeks, declared that ‘one in 50 Albanians‘ who have come to the UK are currently in prison. He also lashed out at the PM further, demanding that he ‘takes all his criminals back’.
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The comments prompted an angry response from Rama, who demanded Farage show some of proof or evidence for his “bonkers claim.”
The Albanian leader said the ‘one in 50 Albanians are in prison’ stat was “a classic form the post-truth Brexit playbook,” and debunked the claim.
Farage in turn responded, standing by the stat. He wrote in a post on X: “Dear @EdiRamaal. There are 53,000 Albanian citizens in the UK & 1,099 are in our prisons. That’s actually 1 in 48.
“I will be asking the Home Secretary to organise for all of these prisoners to be sent back to you. Thank you for your cooperation.”
But this only opened Farage up to more humiliation, as Rama issued another searing response to the Clacton MP.
In a lengthy post, Rama told Farage “numbers are clearly not your forte and so let’s be clear – YOU LOST.”
He pointed out to Farage that the Telegraph, which was the “first to trumpet the ‘one in 50’ theory” had themselves admitted the analysis is “likely to have underestimated the size of the Albanian population,” which would make the ‘one in 50’ line false.
Rama continued: “Yes, numbers can be boring – but they’re also stubborn. And when someone keeps getting them wrong, the real question is: Why persist? Because frankly, being diabolical seems beneath even your usual flair.
“Albanians in Britain are not a statistic to be twisted for post-Brexit political theatre Mr.Farage. They are students, academics, builders, drivers, business owners, and partners. And if one in a thousand falls short, that does not turn the multitude into scapegoats for your national confusion.
“We’ve stood shoulder to shoulder with the UK government in dramatically reducing illegal migration and cracking down on crime. The real numbers prove it and that’s called cooperation. But “one in 50 Albanians in UK prisons”? That’s not a fact – that’s called post-Brexit delusion.”