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Category Archives: Wellness Live
Nigel Farage Squirms As He Admits He ‘Did Not Make The Cut’ To Key Part Of Trump Inauguration
Nigel Farage had to admit he did not “make the cut” to sit in the Capitol rotunda to watch Donald Trump’s inauguration yesterday – but Boris Johnson did.
The Reform UK leader has long cast himself as a close friend to the US president, even offering to be the UK ambassador to Washington for the second Trump administration.
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However, he had to admit the limits to that friendship on GB News last night.
When presenter Chris Hope asked if Farage was in the prestigious room in the middle of the Capitol building where Trump was sworn in, Farage haltingly replied: “No, no, no… didn’t make the cut, sadly.
“I had a good seat… but, no, I mean, look. Frankly, err, it… you know.”
Hope said: “I saw Boris Johnson in there, in rotunda, is he now the person Trump speaks to more than you?”
“No, he’s a former prime minister of the nation,” Farage said, slightly angrily. “He’s an occasional friend of Donald Trump.
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“He supports Donald Trump when he’s going up and he doesn’t support Donald Trump when he’s going down. And I’ve supported him consistently now for almost a decade.”
Johnson has quite the on-off friendship with Trump, having slammed him in 2015 for “betraying a quite stupefying ignorance” for falsely saying there were “no-go zones” in London and claiming that he was “unfit” to become president.
While they spoke highly of one another while Trump was in office for his first term, Johnson then said the outgoing president was “completely wrong” for encouraging his supporters to storm the Capitol in 2021.
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But by January 2024, Johnson – no longer PM or MP – said Trump’s return could be a “big win for the world”.
Meanwhile, Farage has been an avid Trump supporter for years, speaking at multiple rallies and flying over to the US repeatedly to back the Republican, despite critics asking why he is not more dedicated to his constituency.
The MP for Clacton was also a robust supporter of Trump’s new right-hand man, tech billionaire Elon Musk – until the world’s richest man turned on him earlier this month.
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Hours after Farage told the media the X CEO was a “hero”, Musk claimed Reform needed a new leader because the current one “doesn’t have what it takes”.
The sudden split came after the Reform leader tried to distance himself from imprisoned far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whom Musk claimed should be released from jail.
Farage later said he wanted to “mend” his relationship with Musk.
Johnson was not the only former PM to fly to the US for the inauguration as Liz Truss also attended.
Current PM Keir Starmer was not invited, although that is in line with tradition – no serving UK prime minister has ever attended the swearing-in ceremony of a US president going back to when records began in 1874, according to analysis from the Press Association.
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Keir Starmer Insists There Was No State Cover-Up Over Southport Killer
Keir Starmer has denied engaging in a cover-up to prevent the public knowing about Southport killer Axel Rudakubana’s background in the aftermath of his murderous rampage.
The prime minister insisted he was following “the law of the land” to avoid the possibility of the case against the 18-year-old collapsing and him then being able to walk free.
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Rudakubana yesterday pleaded guilty to murdering nine-year-old Alice da Silva Bebe King, 6, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year.
He also admitted the production of a biological toxin, ricin, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.
It has since emerged that the killer was referred three times to the government’s Prevent anti-terrorism programme, but remained at large.
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Home secretary Yvette Cooper has announced that a public inquiry will take place into the tragedy.
Senior politicians, including Nigel Farage and shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, have suggested ministers withheld information about Rudakubana so as to protect the reputation of senior figures and avoid a public backlash.
At a Downing Street press conference this morning, Starmer admitted that he had been told about the details about Rudakubana that were not made public.
But he said: “You know and I know that it would not have been right to disclose those details. The only losers if the details had been disclosed would be the victims and the families because it ran the risk the trial would collapse.
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“I’m never going to do that. Never going to do that because they deserve that justice.
“And only by having the rules in place can that justice be delivered and I would never have been forgiven if they had. Those are not just my choices, though it is a choice I would make, but it is also the law of the land.
“That is why I couldn’t disclose the details, it is why others couldn’t disclose the details, it’s why all of you as journalists couldn’t disclose the details because the same laws applied to you just as they applied to me, and it’s really important that we make that clear.”
He added: “The importance of the rule about not disclosing this information is to ensure that the trial can take place and that where an individual is guilty they can be held to account, as has happened in this case.”
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However, the PM also pledged to identify any failings by the state over the Southport killings.
He said: “I am also under no illusions that until the wider state shows the country it can change not just what it delivers for people, but also its culture, then this atmosphere of mistrust will remain.
“So I want to be crystal clear, in front of the British people today – we will leave no stone unturned.
“I was the prosecutor who first spotted failures in grooming cases at my institution the [Crown Prosecution Service] 14 years ago. And I was the prosecutor who first did something about it, by bringing the rape gangs in Rochdale to justice.
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“And so my approach as prime minister will be no different. If any shortcomings are now holding back the ability of this country to keep its citizens and its children safe, I will find them and I will root them out.”
This A-Lister Was Turned Down For A Cameo In The Wicked Movie
Last year’s hit film adaptation of Wicked was full of cameos for fans of the original stage show – but there was one that never actually made it to the big screen.
After dominating the box office in 2024, the movie musical recently had its home release, one iteration of which features commentary from director Jon M Chu.
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During his commentary, Jon discloses that he was contacted by a certain heavyweight from the musical theatre world, who had a very specific cameo in mind before production got underway.
Referring to opening number No One Mourns The Wicked, Jon said (as reported by Gizmodo): “When that woman says, ‘Glinda, is it true you were her friend?’, I got many calls from Lin-Manuel Miranda.
“He might have publicly also tweeted that he wanted to be that voice and that person.”
via Associated Press
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However, after mulling it over, Jon ultimately decided it would be “too distracting” to have Lin-Manuel pop up so early on in the film.
“So, sorry, Lin,” Jon added.
Indeed, the Hamilton creator first made it clear that he wanted to cameo in Wicked way back in 2016, when Stephen Daldry was still attached to direct the film version of the Tony-winning musical.
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Two of the stand-out cameos from Wicked came from Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, who played the original Elphaba and Glinda on Broadway.
“It’s just so fun,” Jon said of Idina and Kristin’s unexpected appearances, explaining: “It was the middle of the night, and I think [for them] to see this giant set that we had built for a movie of a legacy that they built, these characters that they built from the ground up, was a beautiful thing for them to see.
“We were all, again, all in tears all the time. And then Idina gets to do her iconic war cry and same thing with Kristin, she gets to do her soprano. So fun.”
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Part two of the story, titled Wicked For Good, is due to hit cinemas later this year.
