‘Typical Lib Dem Dishonesty’: Reform Hits Back as Lib Dems Accuse Farage Over May Commons Clash

News | By Matt, Editor

Reform UK has hit back at Liberal Democrat claims that Nigel Farage shoved one of their MPs at the State Opening of Parliament in May. “It’s not true at all – it was the Lib Dem MPs being aggressive towards Nigel,” a Reform source told The Telegraph. “This is typical Lib Dem dishonesty in an attempt to stay relevant.” (The Telegraph, 29 October 2026)

The Telegraph named the MP on Thursday as Caroline Voaden, the Lib Dem schools spokesman and MP for South Devon. Lib Dem MPs and sources say Mr Farage pushed her out of the way. Reform denies it. No footage of the moment has been published, and the House of Commons has not commented publicly on what happened.

Key facts

• Who raised it first: Mr Farage, on Wednesday, explaining why he missed the Budget. He did not name the MP, and Reform declined to. (The Telegraph, 28 Oct)
• The date: the State Opening of Parliament, 13 May 2026. (The Independent)
• The Lib Dem claim: he “shoved a female MP out of the way, sending her flying” (Monica Harding MP). (The Telegraph)
• The Reform reply: “It’s not true at all.” (Reform source, The Telegraph)
• The seat card: the Commons says a card “did not display a valid date stamp and was removed in line with the usual Chamber protocol”. (House of Commons spokesman)

What Farage did on Budget day

Mr Farage watched John Healey’s first Budget from his office. “It was actually more useful to me to sit in the office with a team of economists around me,” he said, adding that it let him go through it “line by line”. (The Telegraph) Unlike Kemi Badenoch and Sir Ed Davey, he had no automatic right to reply in the Commons. He told his press conference he had also considered going to PMQs, but “could see potential conflict” and, as “a very quiet, shy, modest kind of person”, decided “to give it a wide berth” (as reported by GB News).

Within hours he and Robert Jenrick, Reform’s Treasury spokesman, held a live press conference at 3pm (Reform UK on X). “Every single family will be worse off every single year,” he told reporters (GB News). He also said he was “shocked” by the £10bn for Ukraine (The Guardian), as we reported. Our report on his “Britain is broke” verdict has the detail.

The seat card row

Sources close to Mr Farage said his prayer card, the green slip MPs use to reserve a seat, had been moved, as we reported on Wednesday. Mr Farage said: “I didn’t want to, but I got involved in a physical altercation with an MP in the chamber. I didn’t make a fuss about it. I didn’t complain, but I could see that – given that my prayer card had been removed – I was heading towards another physical altercation.” (The Telegraph)

The House of Commons gave a different account. A spokesman said: “Today, a Prayer Card placed on a seat did not display a valid date stamp and was removed in line with the usual Chamber protocol.” The Telegraph reported it understood that Mr Farage had not attended prayers or approached Commons staff about a seat. (The Telegraph; statement also carried by HuffPost UK)

Critics pounced. Conservative MP Alicia Kearns said any of the Reform MPs in the chamber “could have given up their seats for him”. The Telegraph says at least six Reform MPs, including deputy leader Richard Tice, were there; Metro counted seven. (The Telegraph; Metro)

What the Lib Dems allege

On Wednesday night Ms Voaden replied to a clip of Mr Farage on X: “And we both know that’s not true Nigel don’t we? I’m still waiting for the apology you were required to write to me… Though I won’t hold my breath.” (@CarolineVoaden, 28 Oct, 21:42)

By Thursday a Lib Dem source told The Telegraph she had been “shocked and shaken” and accused Mr Farage of “gaslighting” her. Monica Harding MP claimed he had “shoved a female MP out of the way, sending her flying, so he could get to the front of the procession for the King’s Speech”. A Lib Dem spokesman said the incident happened “only when Nigel Farage attempted to shove a female Liberal Democrat MP out of the way”. (The Telegraph)

Deputy leader Daisy Cooper told Sky News: “My understanding – I didn’t see it, I wasn’t there – my understanding is that he physically shoved one of our female MPs out of the way, and that one of our male MPs then challenged him on that.” (Metro) Ms Voaden declined to comment to The Telegraph.

What Reform says

Besides the Reform source’s denial, Mr Jenrick told Sky News: “As I understand it, some petty, bolshie Lib Dem MP – I don’t know their name, because I actually don’t know most of the Lib Dem MPs’ names – got in the way when [Farage] was trying to do his job.” (Metro)

What is not established

• No video or photograph of the moment has been published, and we have not seen any reference to Parliament’s own camera footage.
• The Telegraph says it “understands” Ms Voaden complained to the Serjeant at Arms. Neither the Serjeant nor the Commons has confirmed that publicly. (The Telegraph)
• The claim that Mr Farage was “required” to apologise comes from Ms Voaden alone. We found no public response from Mr Farage or Reform to that specific claim.
• The Lib Dem accounts vary: “shoved… sending her flying” (Ms Harding) and “attempted to shove” (the party spokesman). Ms Cooper says she did not see it.

Meanwhile: Healey told Martin Lewis first

On the same morning, Martin Lewis met the Chancellor at No 11 and at about 8.30am announced that gas standing charges would be scrapped, four hours before Mr Healey told MPs at 12.30pm. The Treasury had put out a press release shortly before. (The Telegraph, 28 Oct)

The Ministerial Code says: “When Parliament is in session, the most important announcements of government policy should be made in the first instance in Parliament.” (Ministerial Code) A Commons committee report has said that announcing major policy to the media first should be considered “disrespectful to the House”. (Public Administration Committee) Tory MP Neil O’Brien said: “It simply isn’t right.” Mr Lewis replied that the meeting was not private and that it was timed to coincide with a public announcement. (The Telegraph)

Our view

This section is opinion.

We cannot know what happened in a crowded procession five months ago, and nor can most of the people now talking about it. What we can see is the timeline. On Wednesday Mr Farage mentioned an unnamed MP and said he had not made a fuss. Ms Voaden answered him on X that night. By Thursday lunchtime The Telegraph had her name, a Lib Dem source was talking about “gaslighting”, and the party’s deputy leader was on Sky News describing a shove she says she did not see.

In our view, it suits the Lib Dems to turn a disputed jostle in a procession into the story, rather than Mr Healey’s numbers. Mr Farage spent Budget day with economists and fronted a press conference within hours. The Chancellor, meanwhile, gave the biggest consumer announcement to a TV money expert before telling MPs. If Westminster wants a row about respect for Parliament, it has picked the wrong one. It is the same week a former Lib Dem candidate put Mr Farage “on trial” in front of pupils at a girls’ grammar school.

FAQ

Did Nigel Farage shove Caroline Voaden?

That is disputed. Lib Dem MPs and sources say he shoved or tried to shove her on 13 May. Reform says it is “not true at all” and that Lib Dem MPs were aggressive towards him. No footage has been published.

Why did Farage miss the Budget?

He said his prayer card had been removed and he wanted to avoid “another physical altercation”. The Commons says a card without a valid date stamp was removed under normal protocol. (The Telegraph)

Sources

• The Telegraph: Lib Dem MP named in Farage altercation claim (29 Oct); Farage on skipping the Budget (28 Oct); Healey and Martin Lewis (28 Oct)
• Metro: Lib Dem and Reform war of words (29 Oct); The Guardian: Farage skips Budget (28 Oct); The Independent: Farage and the State Opening; HuffPost UK: Commons statement
• X: Caroline Voaden; Reform UK; GB News
• GOV.UK: Ministerial Code; UK Parliament: Public Administration Committee report
• Main image: Nigel Farage at Reform UK’s post-Budget press conference, 28 October 2026. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images, via The Telegraph.