Nigel Farage has said he would consider working for ‘Prime Minister’ Boris Johnson, and is backing his bid to succeed David Cameron as Tory leader.
However, the UK Independence party leader also slammed the “idiotic” Tory Vote Leave campaign – led by Michael Gove and Mr. Johnson – for demanding he “tone down” his comments on immigration. “You ain’t seen nothing yet”, promised a defiant Mr. Farage.
He compared Mr. Johnson to the former US president Ronald Reagan, and said he would be a better leader than the “devious, lying and cowardly” David Cameron, who is a “pro-Brussels fanatic”.
“Boris goes on surprising people. They say he can’t do this, he’s a joker – it’s like Ronnie Reagan”, Mr. Farge told the Mail on Sunday.
“Could he do it? Yes. If you’d asked me six months ago I’d have said no but I’ve changed my mind”, he continued.
Asked it he could work for him, he said: “I love Boris, respect him, admire him; I’m a Boris fan. Could I work for him? Yes. Could I see a scenario if he was PM and he asked me to do something? I wouldn’t rule it out.”
Nigel Farage signs the “Kettering Accord”, a pledge to work cross-party towards a common goal of leaving the EU throughout the upcoming referendum campaign in Kettering, north of London, on January 23, 2016. (LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)
This morning, speaking on the Peston on Sunday show on ITV, Mr. Farage explained why kicking David Cameron out would be important after the referendum.
“If you go out and vote to leave then things will change. The first thing that will change is will get a PM that wants us to leave the EU.
“My fear is if we vote to leave and David Cameron stays [as PM] people won’t get what they voted for.”
In his Breitbart London column in last month, before the official ‘out’ campaign was designated, Mr. Farage explained his complex relationship with the Tory Vote Leave campaign.
“In the past I have been deeply critical of the paid apparatchiks running Vote Leave. I believe they have been wrong on every level. Their refusal to merge with us. Their view that immigration is not a key issue for undecided voters. And their outright hostility to me and most of UKIP.
“That now is history. In the past couple of weeks I have met some of the Cabinet Ministers signed up with Vote Leave. I have to say I have found their approach refreshing.
“They are perfectly clear that whoever gets designation, we must all work together. A song that I have been singing for a very long time.”
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