Nigel Farage has revealed what he would have asked Sir Keir Starmer in the House of Commons today after boycotting the first Prime Minister’s Questions of 2026.
The Reform UK leader said he would grill the Prime Minister on Alaa Abd El-Fattah — the Egyptian-British prisoner whose return to Britain was welcomed by Labour ministers despite previously calling for the mass murder of Israelis and police.
Mr Farage also suggested a Reform Government would double the frequency of Prime Minister’s Questions to twice a week and accused Sir Keir of “abusing” the debating session.
PMQs had been held on Tuesday and Thursday between 1961 and 1997, albeit at a reduced time of 15 minutes each.
Sir Tony Blair changed the format in 1997, reducing the number of PMQs to one weekly bout on Wednesdays.
However, Sir Tony doubled the time for PMQs to 30 minutes.
Setting out why Reform would change PMQs, Mr Farage told Times Radio: “It is lots to prepare for, but I do think the public deserves it and I do think it needs to be [twice a week].
“I thought two times a week was better actually, and that’s what it used to be … I feel it needs to be more free ranging, free flowing, and it’s not.”
Mr Farage refused to sit with MPs to watch the final PMQs of 2025 due to the barrage of attacks against him and his Reform colleagues, with Sir Keir today accusing the Clacton MP of laughing at “the denial of the importance of vaccines”.
In October, Mr Farage also opted to sit in the public gallery, watching on as Sir Keir and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch battled it out at the dispatch boxes.
Nigel Farage refused to sit in the Commons
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When asked whether he should be showing up to Parliament to represent his Clacton constituents, Mr Farage said he would be “wasting his time”.
He said Reform and the Greens’ presence during PMQs is “virtually invisible” as they do not receive a weekly question because they are not one of the biggest opposition parties in terms of the number of MPs.
However, Reform is currently leading YouGov’s polling on voting intention by 26 per cent to Labour’s 17 per cent.
Elsewhere in his interview, Mr Farage suggested he will appoint his Shadow Cabinet within months after announcing Laila Cunningham as Reform’s London mayoral candidate.
Nigel Farage accused Keir Starmer of ‘abusing’ PMQs
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He said: “I will be making a series of announcements over the course of the coming weeks and couple of months about putting people into various positions.
“We’re a work in progress, it’s literally only 18 months, 18 months ago that I came back into the whole game of politics, and Reform is a work in progress, and you will have all those answers in good time.”
And questioned whether he believes racism allegations by former Dulwich College peers will be remembered, Mr Farage responded: “Maybe in London.
“I don’t think the real country will, they’re more worried about other things.”