This is the word of Farage: the big beast in the jungle of British politics on his chances of becoming PM

“Dad ... Dad, hurry, it’s starting ... Dad, come on, hurry up! Nigel’s on ... Daaaaaaaaaaad!”

And that was the moment that I found out my almost-teenage daughter had reached first name terms with Mr Brexit.

Reality television is not usually for middle-aged men, but having Nigel Farage in the recent series of I’m A Celebrity changed the game. I watched as much of it as time allowed most evenings after work. My daughter watched it with me.

As I was slowly converted to the reality format, so she grew more familiar with the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, former member of the European Parliament, and current bête noire of a Conservative party elite that fears and despises him in equal measure.

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As he munched his way through sheep’s udders and cows’ teats, Farage has – as my daughter proves – gained priceless recognition among the TikTok generation. He finished third in the show’s competition for public votes, but he has emerged as an unqualified winner.

Farage has cemented his position as the most talked-about politician in Britain without having to do any more politics. He is even being talked about, with semi-seriousness by some, as a potential future leader of a Conservative party roiled once again by internal fractures.

Farage conducted an interview with The Irish Times a few months ago over lunch where, unlike I’m A Celebrity, there wasn’t a four-penis pizza in sight. There is no need to rake over the contents of that article but, Farage being Farage, there was a bit of a kicker afterwards.

He said in the interview that he believed there would be a united Ireland “one day”, but it wouldn’t happen any time soon for practical reasons such as economics. This comment was seized upon as a betrayal by some in the North’s unionist community who had backed Farage, a defender of the union, on Brexit. Some unionists had even run as Ukip candidates.

The first inkling I got that something was up came the following weekend at the Conservative party conference in Manchester. Farage, in his guise as a GB News presenter, arrived to a hero’s welcome from Tory grassroots. An esteemed diplomat bumped into him at a hotel breakfast buffet one morning, and had some gentle banter over his Irish comments.

Over the scrambled eggs, Farage denied he had made the comment about a united Ireland and said he was “misquoted” in The Irish Times. Later that day, he was confronted on the Tory conference floor by a journalist from a unionist newspaper who also asked about his thoughts on a united Ireland. Farage repeated his claim that he had been misquoted.

He hadn’t, of course. I had the tape of the interview to prove it. He was quoted accurately, syllable for syllable, and his important caveat that a united Ireland wasn’t on the cards anytime soon had also been included. One must charitably assume that Farage was simply mistaken in his belief regarding what he had really said.

[ A 'proper f*****g' lunch with Nigel Farage: 'I musn't get sloshed this evening' ]

Still, his “misquoted” stance had helped him fend off some unionist criticism.

Minutes after he spoke to the journalist, I bumped into Farage myself at the GB News stand. Eyes twinkling, he shook my hand as we exchanged pleasantries and shot the breeze over his bizarrely hearty Tory welcome. He said nothing about being misquoted.

Farage has been careful since his I’m A Celebrity exit to repeat a “never say never” mantra when asked whether he plans to return to frontline politics. The Reform UK party (previously the Brexit Party), which he founded, is at 10 per cent in polls. It is unlikely to win many seats at the next election under Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system, but it is bound to cost the Tories a few by splitting the conservative vote.

Some diehard grassroots members of the Conservative party, and even some MPs, might wish for Farage to join and lead them back to electoral stability. But his best hope of scaling the heights of UK politics is if, one day, proportional representation voting is introduced in Britain. That would embellish the power of smaller parties such as Reform.

[ Bobby McDonagh: Britain’s big mistake was to treat Nigel Farage as a normal politician ]

During our previous interview, in between quips about a united Ireland and the valiance of Irish soldiers who fought in the world’s great wars, I asked Farage if he’d be “back” if the UK embraced PR. His response never made the final cut of the article but, in hindsight, was rather telling.

“Back?! I’d be more than back. If we had PR, I think I’d be in Giorgia Meloni’s position,” he said, referring to the right-leaning prime minister of Italy.

“I mean that,” he said.

And do you know what? He probably does.