Clip of Northampton man going toe-to-toe with Nigel Farage on Question Time goes viral

Nigel Farage debated the World Trade Organisation with Northampton resident Dean Parnell

Dean Parnell was one of 150 Northampton residents who watched as the country’s most high profile politicians headed to the town yesterday for an edition of the BBC debate programme.

And his exchange with the Brexit Party leader was one of the more intriguing encounters of the night, as the duo debated the United Kingdom leaving the European Union on World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms.

Mr Parnell asked Mr Farage if he could name a country that operated under WTO rules that didn’t have a trade deal agreement with another country, to which he responded: “WTO rules are the basis for which you begin. I believe the only way we can get a free trade deal with the European Union, without the attached politics, is first to leave, and then they will come running.”

But using his training skills as a lawyer for Sydney Mitchell Solicitors, Mr Parnell demanded that the former UKIP leader directly answer the question. After several attempts and an interjection from host Fiona Bruce, Mr Farage conceded he didn’t know the answer.

The exchange has been retweeted thousands of times on Twitter, and speaking this morning, Mr Parnell said: “I find it so frustrating that Mr Farage and other politicians are able to say these things without being properly challenged.

“It is easy to call out these politicians on what they say by following two simple rules: firstly ask them to provide the detail and secondly do not allow them to avoid answering the original question. If a member of the audience on Question Time can do this then why can’t other politicians and political interviewers do the same?”

Mr Farage, who is also an MEP, was joined by Conservative work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd, Change UK MP Anna Soubry, Labour’s shadow economic secretary to the treasury Jonathan Reynolds and businessmen John Mills on the panel.

The show was filmed yesterday (May 9) at Northampton High School in Hardingstone, and was the third time the BBC show had come to the town.