Those who accuse Nigel Farage of not really understanding Scotland were given plenty of ammunition this week when he accused Anas Sarwar of bringing sectarianism to the country.

As anyone even passingly familiar with Scotland's two biggest football clubs, or indeed anyone who's ever been asked in meaningful tones what school they went to, could tell you we were doing quite well on the old sectarianism score already, thank you very much.

This ignorance is perhaps unsurprising given the former UKIP leader was once caught out on Irish television with a clip of him declaring "up the RA", apparently oblivious to what it meant.

Farage made his sectarianism declaration in the wake of a controversial advert by his party, Reform UK, which took a speech made by Mr Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, out of context and declared he'd "said he will prioritise the Pakistani community".


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The video comes from a 2022 speech at an event celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of Pakistan, at which the Labour leader said "Pakistanis need represented in every mainstream political party in Scotland and across the UK". He made no mention of 'prioritising' the Pakistani community.

Both Sarwar and the First Minister John Swinney have described the advert as being blatantly racist, with the former describing it as a "dog whistle" questioning his Scottishness.

The Reform leader will visit Scotland next week ahead of the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election - one his party stands a good chance of winning.

Farage, however, has something of a chequered history with Scotland.

The most famous incident involving the 61-year-old north of the border came when he was UKIP leader in 2013.

Farage attempted to host a press conference at the Canons' Gait pub on Edinburgh's Royal Mile but was set upon by protestors and eventually had to flee the scene in the back of a police car.

Milkshaking hadn't been invented yet and it paled into comparison to an incident three years prior when a plane - Polish, as Farage notes in his autobiography - crashed while attempting to tow a UKIP banner and planted him head first into the ground.

Still, the pub pillorying appears to have severely triggered the erstwhile reality TV star.

In the immediate aftermath he described the protestors as "fascist scum" and said the incident was "deeply racist" with the crowd "filled with a total and utter hatred of the English".

He insisted Alex Salmond should have condemned the incident, with an SNP spokesman saying: "Nothing he says can be treated with a shred of credibility."

Farage was still banging on about it a year later ahead of a rally in Glasgow, calling the SNP "the voice of anti-Englishness".

Nigel Farage Nigel Farage (Image: Newsquest) To recap then, Reform's Sarwar advert was fine but its leader being heckled in a pub is "deeply racist".

Farage has also said he would be "concerned" if Romanians moved in next door to him, is "awkward" hearing foreign languages spoken on the train, that Muslims "do not subscribe to British values" and that a UKIP candidate who used the word "ch**ky" was a "rough diamond".

One might suggest that comments like those are more of a factor in the protests which greet him both north and south of the border than some kind of virulent anti-English racism.

Farage returned to Scotland on the eve of the independence vote - despite the No campaign urging him not to - telling voters they could not hope to achieve a "self-confident, self-governing Scotland" while part of the European Union.

Whether this late intervention had any bearing on the no vote is dubious, but the UKIP leader was soon back campaigning for his pet political project.

In April 2016 he joined the party's Scottish leader, David Coburn, at a Grassroots Out meeting in Glasgow and was greeted with protestors blasting 'YMCA' by The Village People. The song has since been adopted by Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, and Farage was spotted singing it at a £25k per head champagne party in London in January.

Of the musical protest he said: "It's a deliberate attempt by the so-called nationalists to close down genuine, open proper political debate in this country".

Journalists attending the event were told they wouldn't be allowed re-entry if they deigned to speak to the protestors.

The event saw the launch of UKIP's manifesto for the 2016 Holyrood election, which included a pledge to allow smoking in pubs again and raise the drink driving limit.

The party stood in every regional seat and managed 2% of the vote though, of course, Farage got his wish in the Brexit referendum the following month as, on June 23, 2016, the UK voted to leave the EU.

His appeal remained more selective in Scotland, though, which voted by 62% to remain.

Having voted to leave the European Union, the country and its political parties couldn't quite work out exactly that that meant.

David Cameron resigned the morning after the vote and, like a dog actually catching the car it's chasing, the Brexiteer wing of the Conservative Party appeared to have very little plan for what they'd do next.

With deadlock in parliament, Farage - who had left UKIP in December 2018 - launched the Brexit Party on January 20, 2019.

In May of that year he was back in Scotland, telling a rally in Edinburgh: "You cannot be independent if you're governed from the European Court of Justice. You cannot be independent if you're in the EU's customs union and single market. You cannot be independent if you're governed by Monsieur Barnier and Mr Juncker.

"Unless we get Brexit, you cannot really have an intelligent debate about Scotland's future.

"Actually, what you ought to do folks, is at this election lend your votes to the Brexit Party. Let's get out of the European Union and then have an honest debate about the future of Scotland."

That appeared to represent a slight softening of his position on the constitution, though he noted that another vote "shouldn't happen for a very long time".

The speech came during campaigning for the 2019 European Parliament election in which the Brexit Party would take 30% of the vote nationwide but only just under half that in Scotland.

That campaign also gave birth to the phenomenon of 'milkshaking' right wing politicians and activists.

Nigel Farage covered in milkshakeNigel Farage covered in milkshake Tommy Robinson was doused in dairy twice in two days while running as an independent candidate, while Farage was hit with a £5.25 Five Guys banana and salted caramel number while on the trail in Newcastle.

At his campaign stop in Edinburgh a few days later a nearby McDonald's had a sign in the window advising: "We will not be selling milkshakes or ice creams tonight. This is due to a police request given recent events.”

Rival chain Burger King wrote on Twitter: "Dear people of Scotland. We’re selling milkshakes all weekend. Have fun. Love BK #justsaying" before clarifying "we'd never endorse violence - or wasting our delicious milkshakes!".

The switch from the noble British tradition of egging politicians was probably due to it being a lot easier to explain why you're walking around with a milkshake than a dozen eggs, with the yolky protest dating back to at least 1830s given it was described in George Eliot's Middlemarch.

Figures from across the political spectrum including Nick Griffin, George Galloway, Ed Miliband, and Farage himself have been given an egging, though only John Prescott responded with a right hook.

It's fair to say, then, that up until now Farage hasn't really understood Scotland and Scotland hasn't understood Farage. That could all change in a few days.

The Reform leader is sure to come to South Lanarkshire with a big security team in tow - there are, after all, several ice cream shops in Hamilton.