Andrew Gimson hears Nigel Farage deny trying to destroy the Conservative Party

By Andrew Gimson
Follow Andrew on Twitter

Somewhat to my surprise, I found Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP, sitting in the same small, cheerless office, on the fifth floor of Moss House, a nondescript block behind Claridge’s, where in December 2011 I had interviewed Lynton Crosby, who now works for David Cameron but was at the time running Boris Johnson’s campaign for re-election as Mayor of London.

Mr Farage explained the coincidence: the donor, Andrew Reid, who provides him with this suite of offices, had previously given the same accommodation to Mr Johnson’s campaign.

The world of conservative politics is full of such connections. After five minutes of affable banter about the Test match and other topics – for although Mr Farage’s office is cheerless, he himself is remarkably cheery – the interview began in earnest.

ConHome:  “Are you trying to destroy the Conservative Party?”

Farage:  “No, I don’t need to. Cameron’s doing that for me.”