NIGEL Farage was given private security by the Home Office after being targeted by protesters twice in a week.
O UK Reform The leader, 60, was pelted with rubbish at a construction site in Barnsley while campaigning in an open battle bus yesterday.
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Last week he was doused in banana milkshake while meeting voters in Clacton-on-Sea, where he is running to be local MP.
The Home Office can make arrangements for private security through Operation Bridger, which normally deals with the security of MPs, if a candidate faces an increased threat during the election campaign.
Footage yesterday showed Farage trying to take cover as objects appeared to be thrown at him.
The politician said police officers warned him against going for a walk in Barnsley yesterday morning – which is why he was on a bus.
Speaking to The Sun after the incident, he said he is now having to think twice about how campaigns.
He said: “The protest is part of that democratic process that I spoke about earlier.
“But the protest needs to be within certain limits and for a certain reason, and the protest does not involve throwing cement at me, or even rocks, at the bus. It is a violent protest, it is deliberate.
“You can agree with me or disagree with me, that’s fine. I don’t care if someone shouted insults at me on the street, I’ll probably shout back, that’s fine.
“But when it comes to violence, it actually poses a real threat to the entire democratic process. That was very unpleasant this morning. If I had gotten off that bus, I would probably be in the hospital. This is so unpleasant.
On how this is affecting the way he interacts with the public, he said: “I’ve been doing this forever, as you know, I’ve been doing this forever. And there were incidents over the years that happened, and they weren’t very fun, but they were incidents, they were isolated incidents. They were horrible.
“But now I just want to have this horrible feeling that this is just an attempt to shut me down. So what do I do? If I give in to these people, who else will stand up?
“Sometimes I am brave to the point of complete stupidity. I’m very worried about this. I’m genuinely very, very thoughtful right now.”
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He added: “I’m not going to stop, but my modus operandi may have to change.”
Josh Greally, 28, was charged this morning with threatening behaviour.
Police chiefs say it is difficult to discern the intentions of people in crowds when parliamentary candidates are campaigning, but that candidates may not want to be placed in a bubble while trying to speak to the public.
The number of intelligence and crime reports received by police relating to MPs has fallen sharply in recent months, but force chiefs insist candidates trust officers to protect them.
In January and February, around 260 intelligence reports and 60 or 70 crime reports were received by police in relation to Operation Bridger.
But this falls back on dozens of intelligence reports and “small numbers” of reported crimes over the past two months.
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