Ian Anderson says Britain is “struggling and creaking” but believes Nigel Farage “is not a likeable man”
In a new exclusive interview with Far Out, Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson has called for the UK to adopt tighter immigration policies and also given his thoughts on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Anderson spoke to Far Out about a broad range of topics ahead of Jethro Tull’s upcoming UK tour, which is set to begin in April.
One of the cities that Jethro Tull are set to visit on tour is Bradford in Yorkshire, which Anderson said he was excited to return to.
Notably, the Bradford district, which also includes the surrounding areas, had a 32.1 per cent Asian population according to the last census in 2021, which Anderson told Far Out was “a place of some poignancy for me to visit” due to its diverse populace.
However, Anderson does believe that Britain needs to halt immigration, adding, “There comes a time when, rather like Mary and Joseph in no short terms, visiting Bethlehem, and there being no room at the inn. You know, someone had put up a sign saying ‘No Vacancies’, and that’s kind of where we’re at today, I think, with immigration.”
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The Jethro Tull singer elaborated, “We are struggling and creaking under the weight of a population that is definitely not as hard working as many of those early immigrants from Asia and the West Indies in the 1950s and ‘60s.”
While he states there has been “an overwhelming swing of the pendulum taking place to be very anti-immigrant”, he believes “the balance and the moral position must surely lie somewhere in between”, but notes, “It’s not the way necessarily to win elections to adopt a middle ground.”
Anderson then said that, along with the “great majority of the British public the answer would be yes, in regard to a question regarding tighter immigration control. He then caveated this by saying, “But by control, it doesn’t have to be an overwhelming sweep against no immigration.”
Nevertheless, Anderson doesn’t have faith in Nigel Farage or Reform UK, stating, “Nigel Farage is not a likeable man. He doesn’t look like a likeable man, he certainly doesn’t behave like a likeable man, and so it’s going to be tough for him to win by having an appeal on a personal level.”
He added of the right-wing party that Farage leads, “And, the Reform Party does seem increasingly like a one-man band with obviously no experience in government and no experience in terms of having past cabinet members in its ranks. Although that may change.”
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