Frankie Boyle responds to Nigel Farage: 'Ukip represents the opportunity to have the Nazis back without style'

Frankie Boyle has kindly answered a question posed by Nigel Farage last week, following a Twitter altercation between the pair.

The two clashed over a spat between Mock the Week presenter Dara Ó Briain and right-wing comic Andrew Lawrence, leading Farage to dedicate a column in The Independent to the subject, in which he wrote:

“One week I’m Hitler’s buddy, then next week the Tower of London’s Poppy Memorial is hailed as 'Ukip-style' attraction in the Guardian. Well – which is it? Am I pro-freedom, or anti-freedom? Am I a modern Hitler or a modern Churchill?”

Boyle suggests the answer is quite clear, adding that the Ukip leader is welcome to contact him anytime if he needs an article explained going forward (“I used to be an English teacher.”)

“Well Nigel, you seem to be pro-freedom for big business and rich people, anti-freedom for immigrants, asylum seekers, gay people and other marginalised groups,” he wrote in a column in the Guardian

“Does that also answer the second question or shall I go on? You ask if you’re a Hitler or a Churchill. Well, your party forms pacts with right-wing Holocaust deniers.

“The poppy memorial was described as 'Ukip-style' not because your party is imbued with the same Churchillian values as the poppy, but because the stunt itself was viewed as the sort of crass politicisation of patriotism that your party is so fond of.”

He continued to say that, far from the lazy “left-leaning bias” that Lawrence and Farage claim exists on television shows, it is becoming more difficult “than ever to get a joke on television about Britain’s wars, or US foreign policy”.

“This is because of editorial policy, not ‘lazy’ comedians,” wrote Boyle. “On channels terrified of accusations of bias, or political retribution, comics making jokes about the growing power base of far-right politicians aren’t taking the ‘easy’ route.”

Boyle added that he didn’t see Ukip entirely as a joke, comparing the party to a second coming of the Nazis – just without the style.

“Far from enjoying Ukip as an easy laugh, there looms before comedians the worst of all possibilities: the opportunity to have the Nazis back without the style,” he commented. “Say what you like about those awful b*****ds, but for failed artists they had a surprising amount of flair. Put Farage in jackboots and a leather trenchcoat and he’ll just look like a gay Dr Who.”

The row originally started when Ó Briain called Lawrence “bitter” and “self-delusional” for criticising panel shows including Mock the Week for its alleged “liberal back-slapping”, arguing that such programmes feature “ageing, balding, fat men, ethnic comedians and women-posing-as-comedians” making jokes at the expense of Ukip and Farage.

Naturally, Farage sided with Lawrence, praising him for his honesty on Twitter. Boyle hit back: “There are a lot of honest people in comedy, which is why they keep calling you a c**t.”

The Ukip leader responded: “Probably the funniest thing I've ever heard you say,” to which Boyle retorted: “You didn't hear me say it you daft b*stard.”