Nigel Farage launches Brexit Party campaign in Wales

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has launched his party’s European election campaign in Wales.

The former Ukip leader said in a speech to supporters in Newport on Tuesday evening his return to front line politics was brought on by wanting to “fight back” against politicians in Westminster, and told supporters he would no longer be “Mr Nice Guy”.

Mr Farage said: “I decided the time had come to fight back, and I formed this Brexit Party and I vowed, if I had to come back into public life, this time no more Mr Nice Guy.

“This battle now is not just about Brexit; it’s not just about getting us out of the European Union. It is in fact about sweeping away a political class who serve nobody but themselves. This is about changing politics for good.”

Mr Farage also repeated his intention to have Brexit Party candidates stand in by-elections and the next general election, saying: “We are likely to get our first electoral test in Westminster in a by-election which is now pretty certain to happen in Peterborough. There even could be one in Brecon and Radnor.

“And the day after this campaign finishes we will get ourselves ready to fight a general election.”

Mr Farage was joined by three of the four Brexit Party candidates for Wales, including former Ukip Wales leader Nathan Gill, James Wells, and Gethin Price, while Julie Price was absent.

Also joining the candidates was former Conservative MP Anne Widdecombe, who told the rally on Tuesday evening she had joined the party after ending her 55-year association with the Tories.

She said: “One month ago even I would have found it difficult to contemplate leaving a party which I served for 55 years. But that party is no longer serving you. It has set out quite deliberately to thwart the will of the British people and to keep us half in ad half out which is not what we voted for.”

She also said not respecting the EU Referendum would “betray the legacy” of those who fought in the Second World War, adding: “Heavens above if we’d been governed by this lot we’d have given up at Dunkirk.”