A couple of days ago, Channel 4’s Matt Frei pinned Nigel Farage against a metaphorical wall by pointing out that chartering a private plane to get from London to Strasbourg was a very elitist thing to do. You can read the best reactions to that here. Yesterday, Farage followed up the interview with what he obviously thought was a face-saving clapback to Matt Frei.

Dear @mattfrei. Your sneering publicity yesterday led to a businessman coming forward and paying for the flight. A huge personal thank you from me, this was going to be a very expensive week until you showed up. https://t.co/UT9McA0Hbh — Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) January 17, 2019

How wrong he was, as these reactions show.

1.

Matt Frei pointed out that chartering private jets to fly him from London to Strasbourg was the action of a rich elitist. Farage retorts that a wealthy businessman has now paid for the flight, which is what happens to ordinary people all the time. https://t.co/RsBLCcBy6T — Dan Rebellato (@DanRebellato) January 17, 2019

2.

But you said you'd paid for it? Should be easy to provide a receipt. https://t.co/5TgINiNDpv — James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) January 17, 2019

3.

You'd already paid for the flight, you bullshitter

What you did was take a handout. https://t.co/9gGrKmEO2r — SheRa Marley-Threepwood (@SheRa_Marley) January 17, 2019

4.

Was he Russian? — Louis Barfe (@AlanKelloggs) January 17, 2019

5.

So you didn't pay for it …….. — Con O'Neill (@cononeilluk) January 17, 2019

6.

This is a lie. https://t.co/7LDFo8uJ4T — Tom Kibasi (@TomKibasi) January 17, 2019

7.

Perhaps for the purposes of transparency Nigel you could tell us who this mysterious businessman is – I mean otherwise you're just another politician accepting freebies. @mattfrei https://t.co/m8YeN9BNsD — Otto English (@Otto_English) January 17, 2019

8.

Proving you're not elite by having wealthy business friends of pay for private planes https://t.co/ZkHC8x7gmi — hussein kesvani (@HKesvani) January 17, 2019

9.

Like Nigel, I always make sure not to be one of the elite, by getting a Mr A. Businessman to pay for my private jet charters.#FarageJet https://t.co/adrbBGcVrw — Nɪᴄᴋ Rʜᴏᴅᴇs (@nick_rhodes_nz) January 17, 2019

10.

https://twitter.com/pauljchambers/status/1085868008743071744

11.

"You wouldn't know the businessman; he goes to another school." — David Court (@DavidJCourt) January 17, 2019

12.

Joking aside, he really will have to reveal who paid the bill, as writer Dan Rebellato demonstrated with a handy link.

Hi Nigel, it would be great to know who this businessman was and, under Article 4 §2 (g) of the 2012 Code of Conduct for Members of the European Parliament, you’re going to have to declare the donation and donor eventually, so how about it? https://t.co/7IlRfKth8K — Dan Rebellato (@DanRebellato) January 17, 2019

He would have been better off keeping his head down, because Carole Cadwalladr, the journalist who uncovered the Leave campaign’s shady links to Cambridge Analytica, spotted his boast and had some more questions for him.

Which businessman? How much? Who was paying you to make speeches in the States? Who owns the London townhouse you live in? What's your appearance fee on Russia Today? Who pays for your driver and security? These are basic qs which any public servant should be happy to answer https://t.co/MzqFKTjkal — Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) January 17, 2019

That worked out well, then.