Nigel Farage has broken his silence on rumours claiming he is ill.
Labour and Tory MPs began to speculate about the 61-year-old’s health a few weeks ago, inferring that his busy schedule was taking its toll.
Nigel Farage’s image as the pint-in-hand, cigarette-on-lips storyteller isn’t just for show; it’s pretty true to life.
He still enjoys a drink and the kind of long lunches that slowly blur into the afternoon, according to the Times. But these days, things are shifting. He is usually up at 4:50 am and late nights leave him worn out and the Reform leader admits he’s had to dial things back a bit to keep up with the pace.
Age, it seems, is catching up with him.
But Farage has hit out at the false allegations he is ill.
“I think the fact they are spreading these rumours — which they are — is because it’s the last card they’ve got,” he told the newspaper. “They can’t question us on immigration. They can’t question us on crime. They have nothing to go on.”
He added: “I don’t think I’ve ever worked under more intensity than I have for the last year. It’s an enormous task, building a new political party and movement. I’m trying to moderate with age.
“I wouldn’t say the BMA would hold me up as a pin-up boy, but I’m feeling good. A bit of exercise, I walk the dogs. Yesterday I had lunch with a very interesting chap. We got through lunch with just one bottle. I’m not too bad at all really. I look at people I was at school with and think I’m doing well.”
Instead, he claims he is more zen: “I just don’t let little things worry me. I don’t let online criticism worry me. Nothing really gets to me at all any more.”