How many times has Nigel Farage appeared on Question Time?

Nigel Farage, the former member of European Parliament who has failed seven times to be elected to the UK Parliament and will not be standing in this general election, will nonetheless be appearing on BBC’s Question Time programme on Thursday, to the frustration of many.

Reform UK’s honorary president will join the Fiona Bruce-helmed show alongside former education secretary Damian Hinds, Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, broadcaster Piers Morgan and the Bishop of Dover the Right Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin.

His appearance on Thursday follows a press conference in which he expressed support for Reform UK’s new policy to slap a 20 per cent premium on national insurance for businesses employing migrants – with exemptions for health and social care and small businesses with five employees or fewer.

Commenting on the “employer immigration tax”, Farage branded it a “bold, innovative policy” as the UK has “become addicted to cheap, foreign labour”.

The ex-UKIP leader ruled himself out of trying for an eighth time to become an elected MP, instead pledging to “help with the grassroots campaign in the USA” to get Donald Trump back into the White House in November.

He also said he will “do my bit to help” with Reform UK’s election campaign.

He’s on Question Time later and social media users have criticised yet another appearance from someone who isn’t even in elected office:

Analysis from HuffPost UK in 2018 found a quarter of Question Time appearances since 2010 were made up of UKIP politicians, but just how many times has Farage spoken on the programme?

Based on data from Strudel and analysis of prior news reports, that would be 36 times as of Thursday’s appearance.

The number fluctuates between 36 and 37 online, although multiple outlets cite the show on March 1 2018 as his 32nd panellist slot and May 9 2019 as his 33rd.

Looking at past Tweets from the Question Time account, Farage then showed up for a leader election special on November 12 that year (number 34) and then another election special on December 9 2019 (number 35).

As Farage said himself in a video posted to X / Twitter on Wednesday, Thursday’s show marks a return after “about five years”.

In the clip, the GB News presenter fumed over “diversity monitoring” on a form he was being made to fill in prior to going on the show.

“Goodness gracious me! They want to know about my sexuality ... ethnicity, there’s my answer – it’s a big no, go to hell,” he said.

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