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Nigel Farage’s office tells constituent his degrees are ‘pointless’ after he raises questions about Brexit

Exclusive: Peter Cook says he feels 'very insulted' after the exchange

Wednesday 29 August 2018 07:15 BST

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Nigel Farage 'I suspect these burka comments make Boris Johnson more likely to be Prime Minister, not less'

One of Nigel Farage's constituents was "very insulted" when he was told his degrees were "pointless" after he contacted him to ask questions about Brexit.

In an email exchange seen by The Independent, Peter Cook wrote to his MEP asking for some clarification about Brexit and the net benefits of leaving the European Union.

The Kent based businessman said his Academy of Rock public speaking and events company had taken a hit since the June 2016 vote to leave.

Explaining that he had three degrees and was capable of understanding technical concepts like net present value (NPV) if the response included it.

NPV is the difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash outflows over a period of time.

"Answers such as getting our country back are not acceptable," said the 60-year-old from Gillingham. "I need specific information economically, socially, politically, environmentally and so on."

He received a response from someone called Ben, who works in Mr Farage's office.

Peter Cook said he was expecting a reasonable answer from his MEP. (Peter Cook)

Claiming that “democracy is the real Brexit prize”, he replied with “suggested general reading” which included philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke and economist Ludwig Von Mises.

"Change of course always involves some disruption, and there is a short term cost to that, but the long term gains from the above are priceless," he wrote. "The mistake was joining the EU project in the first place - that is where responsibility for the costs involved in leaving should fall."

Unimpressed, Mr Cook replied: "You have not answered my question - please try again.”

Mr Farage's office responded with: "I think you'll find I have, you're just too closed minded to see it."

Mr Cook replied: "Priceless is not an answer to the question of NPV. It is a pointless platitude," only to receive the response: "Like your degrees perhaps."

Mr Cook said: "Please secure a response to my question. I want to hear from my MEP not some middle man."

Mr Farage’s office responded with: "I can't help that you don't like the answer, or democracy."

Mr Cook said he was “very insulted” by the responses and said that Mr Farage was failing to do his job as an MEP.

“Although he replied quickly but I thought it was disgraceful that he is paid £80,000 a year and is not doing his job,” he told The Independent.

“I have thick skin but I was very insulted. He didn’t take into account the fact I had explained that I had business degrees and could cope with an intelligent response."

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

Show all 12

1/12Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he unveiled that 'breaking point' poster during the referendum

Mr Farage was accused of deploying “Nazi-style propaganda” when he unveiled a poster showing Syrian refugees travelling to Europe under the next “Breaking point”. Users on social media were quick to compare the advert to a Nazi propaganda film with similar visuals and featuring Jewish refugees. The poster was particularly controversial because it was unveiled the morning of the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox

Rex

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he said he’d be concerned if his neighbours were Romanian

In May 2014 Mr Farage was accused of a “racial slur” against Romanians after he suggested he would be concerned living next to a house of them. “I was asked if a group of Romanian men moved in next to you, would you be concerned? And if you lived in London, I think you would be,” he told LBC radio during an interview. Asked whether he would also object to living next to German children, he said: “You know the difference”

Bongarts/Getty Images

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he said the EU campaign was won 'without a bullet being fired'

Nigel Farage has said the next Prime Minister has to be a Leave supporter

AFP/Getty

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he resigned as Ukip leader and came back days later

After failing to win the seat of South Thanet at the general election, Nigel Farage stepped down as Ukip leader – as he had promised to do during the campaign. Days later on 11 May he “un-resigned” and said he would stay after being convinced by supporters within the party. We’ll see how long his resignation lasts this time

AP/Matt Dunham

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he blamed immigrants for making him late

Mr Farage turned up late to a £25-a-head ‘meet the leader’ style event in Port Talbot, Wales in December 2014. Asked why he was late, he blamed immigrants. “It took me six hours and 15 minutes to get here - it should have taken three-and-a-half to four,” he said. “That has nothing to do with professionalism, what it does have to do with is a country in which the population is going through the roof chiefly because of open-door immigration and the fact that the M4 is not as navigable as it used to be”

Getty

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he wanted to ban immigrants with HIV from Britain

Mr Farage has used his platform as Ukip leader call for people with HIV to be banned from coming to Britain. Asked in an interview with Newsweek Europe in October 2014 who he thought should be allowed to come to the UK, he said: “People who do not have HIV, to be frank. That’s a good start. And people with a skill.” He also repeated similar comments in the 2015 general election leadership debates

Getty

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he defended the use of a racial slur against Chinese people

Defending one of Ukip’s candidates, who used the word “ch**ky” to describe a Chinese person, Mr Farage said: “If you and your mates were going out for a Chinese, what do you say you're going for?" When he was told by the presented that he “honestly would not” use the slur, Mr Farage replied: “A lot would”

Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he said parts of Britain were ‘like a foreign land’

The Ukip leader used his 2014 conference speech to declare parts of Britain as being “like a foreign land”. He told his audience in Torquay that parts of the country were “unrecognisable” because of the number of foreigners there. Mr Farage has also previously said he felt uncomfortable when people spoke other language on a train

Screengrab

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he said the British army should be deployed to France

At the height of trouble at Britain’s Calais border Mr Farage proposed a novel solution. The Ukip leader called for the British army to be sent to France to put down a migrant rebellion. “In all civil emergencies like this we have an army, we have a bit of a Territorial Army as well and we have a very, very overburdened police force and border agency,” he said. “If in a crisis to make sure we’ve actually got the manpower to check lorries coming in, to stop people illegally coming to Britain, if in those circumstances we can use the army or other forces then why not”

AFP/Getty

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he said breastfeeding women should ‘sit in the corner’

Mr Farage sparked protests from mothers after he told women to “sit on the corner” if they wanted to breastfeed their children. “I think that given that some people feel very embarrassed by it, it isn’t too difficult to breastfeed a baby in a way that's not openly ostentatious,” Mr Farage said. He added: "Or perhaps sit in the corner, or whatever it might be”

AFP/Getty Images

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he said the gender pay gap exists because women are ‘worth less’

At a Q&A on the European Union in January 2014 Mr Farage said there was no discrimination against women causing the gender pay gap. Instead, he said, women were paid less because they were simply “worth far less” than many of their male counterparts. “A woman who has a client base, has a child and takes two or three years off - she is worth far less to her employer when she comes back than when she went away because that client base won't be stuck as rigidly to her portfolio,” he said

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Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he said he actually couldn’t guarantee £350m to the NHS after Brexit

During the EU referendum campaign the Leave side pledged to spend £350 million a week on the National Health Service – claiming that this is what the UK sends to Brussels. Nigel Farage didn’t speak out against this figure and also pledged to spend EU cash on the health service and other public services himself. Then the day of the election result he suddenly changed his tone, saying he couldn’t guarantee the cash for the NHS and that to pledge to do so was “a mistake”

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He added that he might have expected a reasonable economic forecast so he could plan for his business.

Asked about the response from his office, Mr Farage told The Independent that the advice about the philosophers was valid, he said: "Most MEPs would have just put the email into the bin."

A spokesman for the EFDD Group in the European Parliament of which Mr Farage is a member, told The Independent: “With 6 million constituents Mr Farage does not get to see every letter and email.

"Yet his secretary promptly responded to the chief of the Academy of Rock [Peter Cook] with all due seriousness.”

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