Nigel Farage claims he skipped watching the Budget in the Commons as he feared ending up in 'another physical altercation' in Parliament after 'previous bust-up in May'

Published: 12:22 EDT, 28 October 2026 | Updated: 12:33 EDT, 28 October 2026 Nigel Farage today claimed he skipped watching the Budget in the House of Commons as he feared ending up in 'another physical altercation'.The Reform UK leader suggested his absence from Parliament for Chancellor John Healey's statement was because he had decided to 'avoid conflict'.This was after a previous 'physical altercation' with an unnamed MP in the Commons chamber at the State Opening of Parliament in May this year.He added that his absence from Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday - which took place just before the Budget - was also due to his concerns about a bust-up.Mr Farage claimed his prayer card, which is used by MPs to reserve their seats in the Commons chamber, had been 'removed' earlier in the day.The Reform leader said he decided to instead watch the Budget from his party's offices with a team of advisers. Nigel Farage today claimed he skipped watching the Budget in the House of Commons as he feared ending up in 'another physical altercation' The Reform UK leader suggested his absence from Parliament for Chancellor John Healey's statement was because he had decided to 'avoid conflict'Mr Farage addressed questions about his absence from the Commons during a press conference in Westminster after Mr Healey's statement.'At the State Opening of Parliament, I didn't want to but I got involved in a physical altercation with an MP in the chamber,' he said.'I didn't make a fuss about it, I didn't complain. But I could see, given that my prayer card had been removed, I was heading towards another physical altercation.'And just sometimes it's better to avoid conflict - that's one reason.'The second reason is, actually, I sat going through the Budget with our team of economists in the office so I actually had the time to go through it line by line.'So it was actually more useful to me to sit in the office with a team of economists around me.'I was going to go to PMQs but I could see potential conflict and being a very quiet, shy, modest kind of person, I decided to give it a wide berth.'