Tory leadership hopeful James Cleverly tells Farage to choose between ‘serious politician or content creator’

Shadow home secretary asked if the Reform UK leader believed Parliament was an important institution or ‘just part of a PR operation for clicks and likes’

Tory leadership hopeful James Cleverly has attacked Nigel Farage, telling him to choose between being a “serious politician or a social media content creator”.

The shadow home secretary accused the Reform UK leader of making statements designed to “generate traffic” as riots erupted across the country.

Mr Farage has been widely criticised for his claims of “two-tier policing”, echoing the language of a right-wing conspiracy theory, and his remarks about the Southport stabbings.

Misinformation spreading online is believed in part to have helped spark recent riots (PA)

Mr Cleverly said: “I think some of the things that he has framed as questions are clearly designed to generate traffic, generate digital content. And he needs to decide, is he a politician, a serious politician, or is he a social media content creator?

“As politicians, we have a duty to think very, very carefully about what we do and very, very carefully about what we say.”

He told Times Radio politicians must “not intentionally reinforce gossip and rumour, particularly if it has serious real world implications. And so, you know, the question that he will need to ask himself and perhaps others as well, is, do you believe Parliament is an important institution where serious decisions are made and the country is governed? Or is it just part of a PR operation for clicks and likes and monetised content?”

Tory leadership contender Cleverly has attacked Farage (Joe Giddens/PA)

Another leadership contender, Mel Stride, has said Mr Farage would not be welcome in the Conservatives under his leadership as he criticised the former Ukip leader’s response to the riots, saying he was “irresponsible and wrong to fuel the fires”.

Mr Farage has made claims of “two-tier policing”, language used by proponents of a right-wing conspiracy, and suggested that the riots have been dealt with more harshly than other recent protests such as the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

He also reached out to billionaire X owner Elon Musk, alleging a conspiracy between the government and media to support “open borders”. He also doubled down on his much-criticised claims about the Southport stabbings, and claimed “the truth was being withheld” about the suspect.

Farage said: “One of the reasons the Southport riots were as bad as they were, one of the reasons the mosque itself was targeted, was because the authorities didn’t tell us quickly enough what the truth was. We then learnt a few hours later he was born in Cardiff and actually he wasn’t a radical Islamist at all. But my question about whether he was on a watch list still hasn’t been answered.”

False claims that the alleged attacker of three young girls in Southport was on a watchlist and a Muslim were used to stir up far-right mobs.

A Reform spokesman said: “Only those uninterested in reaching the public are uninterested in modern technology. This is the problem with the Tory party writ large.”