'If It Walks Like A Duck': Lisa Nandy Suggests Nigel Farage Would Lead A 'Fascist' Government

Nigel Farage would lead a “fascist” government if he becomes prime minister, Lisa Nandy has suggested.

The culture secretary told Sky News: “If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, in my experience it usually is a duck.”

Her comments come as opinion polls continue to suggest that Reform UK are on course to win the next general election.

Nandy – who has an Indian father – reportedly warned a cabinet meeting that would usher in a “fascist” government in the UK for the first time.

On Sky News on Sunday, she said she would not “repeat” what was said behind closed doors, but went on: “I think we’ve been here many times in history before.

“Certainly when I was growing up in the 1980s in Manchester, coming from a mixed race background, I’ve seen this playbook before, where people try to scapegoat and demonise other people, try to pit us against one another and try to divide us from one another.

“They do it for one reason and one reason alone – because they have no answers to the problems that this country faces. It takes us to some very dark and dangerous places and I think we should have no truck with it at all.”

Nandy added: “It’s not migrants, it’s not people with different coloured skin, who are responsible for the problems that the country has, it’s one group of people and one group of people alone, and it’s the people he’s welcoming with open arms to his own party.”

Presenter Trevor Phillips then asked the minister: “Would you use the word ‘fascist’ about a Nigel Farage-led government or not?”

She replied: “I’m not sure that labels are particularly helpful, but I’ve got a lot of experience of living with the consequences of othering and people who are trying to divide us from one another.

“I guess I would just say that if it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, in my experience it usually is a duck.”

Phillips then told her: “I think I know what that means.”