Nigel Farage has aimed another savage swipe at James Cleverly – days after branding the Home Secretary a “moron”.
The former Brexit Party leader and GB News presenter erupted earlier this week after a tweet by James Cleverly hailing the absence of boats crossing the English Channel over the Christmas period.
Mr Farage pointed out that those planning crossings of the English Channel were very likely to have been deterred by high winds and choppy seas.
And he followed up his insight with a post on X, formerly Twitter, in which he said: “Worse still… Cleverly is the MP for BRAINtree.”
Shortly beforehand, he shared a clip of waves lashing in to shore in Kent in the midst of Storm Gerrit, commenting: “No boats today Mr Cleverly. Well done you!”
Mr Cleverly’s message on Tuesday, also on X, boasted: “There were no small boat arrivals over Christmas for the first time since they started in 2018.
“Last night, our Border Force officers and their French partners worked together to stop a boat launching on the beaches.
“They’ve played a crucial role in cutting crossings by 35%.”
It was tagged with a reader’s note describing it as “misleading”.
The note added: “Even the government’s own website confirms there are seasonal effects on boat crossings due to adverse weather. This winter is unusually stormy!”
Mr Farage himself remarked: “You may be called Cleverly but you are clearly a moron.
“I am close to Dover now, the wind has been gusting 50mph… That is why there are no migrant crossings.
“You charlatans and liars all deserve to lose your seats at the election.”
Storm Gerrit has hit much of the UK in recent days, with Eurostar and Southeastern trains cancelled today as a result of flooding a tunnel near Ebbsfleet International station in Kent.
Home Office data shows there have now been 10 consecutive days without any arrivals recorded.
The latest journey, on December 16, saw just one boat carrying 55 people make the journey to the UK from France.
Last year, 90 arrivals were recorded on Christmas Day, with none on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day.
It was a similar pattern in 2021, with 67 arrivals on December 25 but none on December 24 or 26.
Both 2020 and 2019 saw no action on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but there were crossings on Boxing Day, with seven and 49 arrivals respectively.
In 2018 there were no arrivals on Christmas Eve, 45 on Christmas Day and three on Boxing Day.
The number of crossings this year is 36 percent down compared to this time last year, with the provisional total for 2023 still lower than 30,000.
In 2022, a record 45,774 people arrived in the UK after making the journey, but this year’s total so far stands at 29,437.
Earlier this month Rishi Sunak admitted there was no “firm date” for meeting his pledge to “stop the boats” when questioned by MPs.
The promise was one of the five priorities the Prime Minister set out at the start of the year when he said he would pass a new law making sure those who arrived by small boat would be “detained and swiftly removed”.
