Ukip leader Nigel Farage joined a flotilla of Brexit-backing fishing boats sailing up the Thames today as part of his campaign to convince voters to back a Brexit.
Mr Farage set sail on a small trawler at the head of the fleet of 50 to 60 vessels which passed under London’s Tower Bridge at around 10am.
The flotilla arrived outside the House of Commons just before Prime Minister’s Questions but also bobbing along the Thames in London this morning, were scores of vessels out in force ahead of Mr Farage’s arrival.
Remain supporters, including rock star philanthropist Sir Bob Geldof and Rachel Johnson, blasted out the song “In With the In Crowd” from a large on-board sound system, with Sir Bob addressing Mr Farage over a PA system as his boat, the Sarpedon, pulled alongside the one carrying the Ukip leader.
Calling Mr Farage a “fraud”, Geldof said: “You are no fisherman’s friend.” He said that while Mr Farage was on the European Parliament fisheries committee he attended just one out of 43 meetings.
Calling Mr Farage a “fraud”, Geldof said: “You are no fisherman’s friend.” He said that while Mr Farage was on the European Parliament fisheries committee he attended just one out of 43 meetings.
Mr Farage said that the protest was taking place eight days ahead of the June 23 referendum because EU membership had “destroyed our industry”.
“The governing principle of the common fisheries policy is that of ‘equal access to a common resource’,” he said.
“Fish stock that should be within the UK’s internationally-recognised territorial waters is now shared with our European partners. 
“This has led to a 60 per cent drop in oversized landings and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in our industry.”
Speaking to reporters on a boat on the Thames, Mr Farage branded the Geldof protest “just disgusting”.
He said: “These are communities that have been devastated. These are communities that no-one has listened to for years.
“They are here today, they have taken – some of them – several days out of their working week to come and make their protest, to say ‘look, we want to take back control of our seas, we want to get jobs back in this industry’.
“To see multi-millionaires frankly mocking them is a pretty shameful sight.”
Greenpeace accused Mr Farage of “cynical opportunism”, saying that as a Ukip MEP he had failed to vote on three major measures designed to fix flaws in the Common Fisheries Policy.

Source: Telegraph.com