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.
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.
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
-
Political cartoons for December 6Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include a pardon for Hernandez, word of the year, and more
-
Pakistan: Trump’s ‘favourite field marshal’ takes chargeIn the Spotlight Asim Munir’s control over all three branches of Pakistan’s military gives him ‘sweeping powers’ – and almost unlimited freedom to use them
-
Codeword: December 6, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
Is a Reform-Tory pact becoming more likely?Today’s Big Question Nigel Farage’s party is ahead in the polls but still falls well short of a Commons majority, while Conservatives are still losing MPs to Reform
-
Nigel Farage: was he a teenage racist?Talking Point Farage’s denials have been ‘slippery’, but should claims from Reform leader’s schooldays be on the news agenda?
-
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
