A woman has been charged with assault by beating and criminal damage after a milkshake was thrown at Nigel Farage.
Victoria Thomas-Bowen, 25, is alleged to have thrown a McDonald’s drink at the Reform party leader on his first day campaigning to become the new MP for Clacton on Tuesday.
Essex Police said Ms Thomas-Bowen, an OnlyFans model, will appear at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on July 2.
It added that the charges relate to an incident in which a drink was thrown at a man in the area of Marine Parade East, Clacton, at around 2.10pm on Tuesday.
Mr Farage was targeted as he left a Wetherspoon pub in the Essex seaside town.
He is attempting to win the Tory-held constituency of Clacton, which elected an MP representing his old party Ukip in 2015, in his eighth attempt at being elected to the House of Commons.
Ms Thomas-Bowen publishes pictures on the explicit website OnlyFans and has more than 18,000 followers on her Instagram account.
In a video to social media, Mr Farage initially made light of a drink being thrown over him, referencing the 2003 song Milkshake by Kelis as he joked: “My milkshake brings all the people to the rally.”
But in a subsequent interview, the Reform leader told ITV News Politics: “I don’t know what was thrown at me but it hit me in the face, fair and square, quite frightening.”
Asked why he thought he had been targeted again following a similar incident in 2019, he said: “Because I go out and meet the public, nobody else does.
“What does Rishi do? He gets a room with two-dozen councillors or whatever it is. Nobody goes out and does the old-style street campaigning the way that I do. And this is the risk that goes with it, and I’ll be honest, it is quite scary.”
Mr Farage, who was visibly emotional, was asked if he thought about what would happen if he was attacked with something “more serious” than a milkshake. He replied: “That’s a very tough question to answer. I try not to.”
It is not the first time he has been hit by a milkshake while on the campaign trail.
During his time as leader of the Brexit Party, warned that “radicalised remainers” were making political campaigning “impossible” after a drink was thrown over him during a European elections walkabout in Newcastle in 2019.
Later that year, Paul Crowther was ordered to pay Mr Farage compensation after pleading guilty to common assault and criminal damage.