Nigel Farage modelled his career on Alex Salmond

Ukip leader Nigel Farage has revealed that he used Alex Salmond as a model to raise his own profile in British politics, but he was unhappy with his reaction to the ‘Edinburgh incident’.

Nigel Farage has proved unpopular in Edinburgh. Picture: Julie Bull

According to the Sunday Post, Farage said that Mr Salmond’s decision to step down as the SNP’s Holyrood leader in 2000, along with his subsequent return in 2004, was the ideal template to rise to prominence.

Farage wakled out on the Ukip leadership in 2009 due to exhaustion, but returned just a year later in a move which echoed the previous career moves of Scotland’s First Minister.

Farage said: “I was burnt out, but I’d seen what Alex Salmond had done. He’d walked away then come back a few years later on his own terms.”

However, he was less than happy with Mr Salmond’s refusal to condemn the actions of protesters who hounded the Ukip leader in Edinburgh recently.

“Alex Salmond is someone I have admired in politics. Certainly in terms of ability he’s been head and shoulders above everyone else in Edinburgh for a long time. I was very disappointed by his reaction to that incident.”

See Also:

• Nigel Farage forced to flee Edinburgh’s Royal Mile