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Reform UK’s Nadhim Zahawi doesn’t feel safe in London after seeing a tired man on the street – 16 responses offering comfort as he recovers

Michael White. Updated February 14th, 2026

Please spare a thought for one of Reform UK’s newest recruits, who is recovering this weekend after a terrifying ordeal on the streets of London.

Nadhim Zahawi, one-time Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer who defected to Nigel Farage’s party last month, was on Nick Ferrari’s LBC show this week talking about how London doesn’t feel safe for him or his children.

And his evidence for this? Encountering a sleep-deprived man on the street at 8am.

The exchange went:

Ferrari: Do you feel safe in London?
Zahawi: No. Yesterday I walked from my home in one of the most upmarket areas of London. And an individual walked past me – I literally walked off the pavement into the middle of the road, kept a very close eye – at 8am.
Ferrari: Did this individual appear to be drunk or to be aggressive?
Zahawi: He just looked like he hadn’t slept for a week. He just looked like somebody that might be violent. I don’t know. But I just walked away from the pavement. And I’m a big guy and I don’t feel safe that my 13-year-old can walk in London.

Now, as anyone who lives in or has ever visited London could tell you, encountering sleep deprived people at 8am who look like they might be violent is kind of the default mode of people in the capital.

But, not to worry, plenty of people on social media were at hand to console brave Zahawi after his harrowing ordeal.

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Source: Twitter/X/Haggis_UK