Farage has only got one… chance to remain leader
By the numbers: the life and times (and promise to stand down if he loses South Thanet) of Nigel Farage
The Daily Telegraph is serialising Ukip leader Nigel Farage’s memoir, The Purple Revolution: The Year That Changed Everything. Here, by the numbers, are one or two things we have learned as a result:
1 The number of testicles he possesses. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer as a 21-year-old: the operation saved the need for chemotherapy.
2 The number of vertebrae he broke when the light plane he was travelling in crashed on the morning of the May 2010 general election.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
3 The number of Westminster seats he has fought and lost so far: Bexhill and Battle (2001), Bromley and Chislehurst (2006 by-election), Buckingham (2010).
4 The number of children he has - two sons and two daughters.
11 The number of months during which he was unable to have a bath after being hit by a car in 1985: he had been out for a curry and had drunk “steadily throughout the afternoon".
15 The average percentage share of the national vote currently enjoyed by Ukip, according to one polling average. The party’s share was 3.1 per cent at the 2010 general election.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
18 The age at which he entered the City, working for a metals trading business.
19th The only hole he’s really comfortable with at the golf club. Although he looks the part, he hasn’t got the hand-eye coordination to swing a golf club because of the injuries sustained in that 2010 plane crash.
52 The number of days remaining of his leadership of Ukip if he fails to win South Thanet on 7 May. He promises in his book to stand down if he doesn’t win the Kent seat.
Read the Telegraph extracts in full
-
‘Businesses that lose money and are uncompetitive won’t survive’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Film reviews: Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Frankenstein, and Blue MoonFeature A rock star on the rise turns inward, a stressed mother begins to unravel, and more
-
Podcast reviews: ‘Fela Kuti: Fear No Man,’ ‘David Bowie: Changeling’ and ‘The Adam Friedland Show’feature Fela Kuti’s revolutionary life, David Bowie’s early years, and Adam Friedland reinvents the talk show
-
Five takeaways from Plaid Cymru’s historic Caerphilly by-election winThe Explainer The ‘big beasts’ were ‘humbled’ but there was disappointment for second-placed Reform too
-
Taking the low road: why the SNP is still standing strongTalking Point Party is on track for a fifth consecutive victory in May’s Holyrood election, despite controversies and plummeting support
-
The end of ‘golden ticket’ asylum rightsThe Explainer Refugees lose automatic right to bring family over and must ‘earn’ indefinite right to remain
-
Does Reform have a Russia problem?Talking Point Nigel Farage is ‘in bed with Putin’, claims Rachel Reeves, after party’s former leader in Wales pleaded guilty to taking bribes from the Kremlin
-
The Liberal Democrats: on the march?Talking Point After winning their highest number of seats in 2024, can the Lib Dems marry ‘stunts’ with a ‘more focused electoral strategy’?
-
Is Britain turning into ‘Trump’s America’?Today’s Big Question Direction of UK politics reflects influence and funding from across the pond
-
Behind the ‘Boriswave’: Farage plans to scrap indefinite leave to remainThe Explainer The problem of the post-Brexit immigration surge – and Reform’s radical solution
-
What difference will the 'historic' UK-Germany treaty make?Today's Big Question Europe's two biggest economies sign first treaty since WWII, underscoring 'triangle alliance' with France amid growing Russian threat and US distance