Nigel Farage Wishes Britain A ‘Happy Brexmas’ After Blue Passport Decision

Nigel Farage has lauded the decision to change British passports from burgundy to blue as being the “first real, tangible victory” since the EU referendum and used it to wish Britain a Merry Christmas in the way only he can – by coining the term, “Happy Brexmas”. 

The Home Office announced Friday that the “iconic” blue and gold design which came into use almost 100 years is set to return.

The passports, Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis said, will be issued to those renewing or applying for a passport from October 2019.

Burgundy passports were first issued in 1988 despite the EU never compelling the UK to ditch its blue covered travel document.

Former Ukip leader and chief Brexiteer Farage responded to the news on Twitter with “happy Brexmas”, then proceeded to proclaim its significance on both the BBC and, rather nostalgically on LBC.

In the 2016 referendum, we wanted our passports back. Now we’ve got them back! ?? pic.twitter.com/9cS8TMzX9k
Farage reiterated his Christmas-Brexit phrase to the BBC before adding the decision was something to savour, saying “it is the first, real, tangible victory that we have had since the referendum and it something that we should all celebrate”.

When questioned on its significance, given the state of Brexit negotiations, Farage double-downed, “it is a tangible gain and that’s something,” he said, before conceding slightly, that it wasn’t, because of the Government: “There is an awful lot more to do and we really do need a Government with some courage and with some vision and at the moment that does appear to be sadly lacking.”

Nigel Farage: Return of #bluepassport is “the first real, tangible victory” for people who voted for #Brexit https://t.co/JfMmJy7n2i pic.twitter.com/bolmPQMLR4 — BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) December 22, 2017
Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme he knew many Remain voters who still had an “attachment” and “speak fondly” of the blue passport, something a giddy Farage recalled on LBC, with a story beginning with, “I remember in 1988”.

A return to British passports means we are becoming a proper country again. We are getting our individuality and national identity back. pic.twitter.com/AOZjmQhsyf

December 22, 2017
Farage went on to explain that when they “abolished the British Passport, they didn’t just change the colour of it”.

What they did, he said, was “put two words on top of it, ‘European Union’.

Farage: “And that said to me, 30 years ago, that our political class, we’re basically selling out our country, our nationality, our individuality… and so I fought them.”

Not everyone was ecstatic as Farage about “Brexmas” and the significance of Britain ditching burgundy for blue… and a myriad of other reasons.

No-one under 45 will have owned a blue passport & most will think they’re not worth £50billion & crashing the economy https://t.co/vylyTVozSy
Why do we need any colour passport? We should just be able to shout, “British! Less of your nonsense!” and stroll straight through.
I think you’ll find most British people don’t particularly care what colour their passport is. They do care about the promise to fund the NHS. But congrats for the symbolic victory. You can add it to the Pyrrhic victory called Brexit.

December 22, 2017
.@Nigel_Farage thinks the #BluePassport is the best news #Brexiteers have had in a while. Shows how badly things are going. Thank goodness for the blue passport instead of the one that lets us travel and work in 27 different countries! #BrexitLogic #FBPE

December 22, 2017
And it remains likely they’ll be printed/produced In the EU so the UK gets to take a £500m bath for the sake of some nonsense halcyon vision of the UK and that money leaves these shores anyway.. what an absolute nonsense…

December 22, 2017
I hope he’s equally as saddened by the many things we’ll be giving up when we do leave. But hey, Blue passports?! What a win!
Changing the colour would be a “symbolic victory” if we weren’t already leaving the EU but seeing as we are, it’s a rather arbitrary decision
I’m so excited. Blue instead of burgundy. Apparently what a ‘Victory’ looks like. Jeez…
Farage explicitly campaigned for Brexit on the passport issue – suggesting that leaving the world’s largest trade bloc in which we had the best terms of any nation on Earth was worth it to change the colour of our passport. Something we could do anyway. Imagine being such a punt pic.twitter.com/iACx0NPiqp

December 21, 2017
Farage wasn’t alone in his excitement though, Tory MP Andrew Rosindell, who campaigned to bring back the blue passport, was also pleased, so ecstatic in fact he jumbled his tweet about it, calling the change a “powerful symbol that Britain in back”.

A great Christmas present for those who care about our national identity – the fanatical Remainers hate it, but the restoration of our own British passport is a powerful symbol that Britain in Back! ??https://t.co/2J7HXpdrlw

December 22, 2017