Nigel Farage claims threats to his safety have increased since Donald Trump’s endorsement of the Ukip leader following the US election victory - as he was told by an angry radio phone-in caller that he will be “Britain’s most hated man”.
Farage, who is reportedly moving to the US, also spelled out his plans to visit the country again this week - where he said he’ll ask for “forgiveness” for things British politicians said about Trump.
The Republican president-elect has suggested that Farage would make a “great” ambassador to the United States - but the blessing appears to have been a double-edged sword.
Farage, who will formally stand down as Ukip leader on Monday when a new leader is announced, set out the toll his political activities had taken on his personal life, claiming he required constant security.
“I’ve got no life - I can’t do anything, I can’t go anywhere. Certainly I would not go out in London of an evening on my own without security - couldn’t even think about it.
“I can’t even walk down the street without it. I have to go to private places, private venues.
“The thought of doing a Friday night pub crawl around Westminster - I just can’t do it any more.”
Mr Farage, who said he was threatened with a glass on Thursday night, said the trouble had become worse since Mr Trump’s election success.
He added:
“It might diminish, it might not. The America dimension changed everything.
“It’s been so full-on, unbelievable really.”
Meanwhile, he was given a roasting by the first caller on his LBC radio show, where he was standing in for Katie Hopkins.
The caller identifying himself as Paul said he pulled over and called the show when he realised who was in the presenter’s chair. He said:
“In a year or a year and a half’s time, you will be Britain’s most hated man. I’m an average guy, I’ve got four children, I’ve got my son in the back of the car asking me: are Mexicans rapists? My son is scared.”
Paul went on it was “ridiculous” that he wants to be ambassador, adding:
“I remember you saying: ‘We’ve got our country back.’ Well my country is gone. I’ve got Polish friends being told to go home.”
Farage admitted Trump’s comments - which included boasting about sexually assaulting women, mocking the disabled, proposing banning all Muslims from the United States, criticising the parents of an American solider killed in Iraq and lied about having supported the war, questioning the impartiality of a judge based on their ethnicity, making fun of a Republican Senator who had been a prisoner during Vietnam, praising Vladimir Putin, refusing to rule out dropping nuclear weapons on Europe, encouraging violence against protestors, claiming the election was rigged and suggesting he would not accept the result - were at times “over the top”.
Farage said:
“Show your son the two speeches that Trump has given to the nation in the last week where he has been absolutely magnanimous in victory. He’s talked about being the President for all Americans.
“Sometimes things get said in election campaigns that are bitter, heated and I think people are quite capable - Donald Trump himself - of, at times, going over the top.
“But I would urge you Paul, if your son is scared about the next US President, look at those addresses to the nation.
“I hope it sets your mind at rest at least a little bit.”
Downing Street has flatly rejected calls to take advantage of Farage’s links to the Trump camp.
But he said on LBC:
“Regardless of what Downing Street thinks, I’m going back to America at the end of this week, I’m going to meet all sorts of people and I shall say to them ‘regardless of whether the Government uses me or not, please forgive some of the things that were said about your president during the election campaign, it’s in both of our interests to get closer.”