I do not think an all Ireland is likely and I am not Sinn Fein's friend, says Nigel Farage in riposte to Lord Empey

Mr Farage was speaking to the News Letter yesterday at the Conservative Party conference, in the aftermath of criticism from the former Ulster Unionist leader Lord Empey, who said that his comments on an all Ireland were a betrayal of UUP members who had defected to Mr Farage's Ukip party.

In a letter to this newspaper published on Saturday, Lord Empey noted that reports last week had shown that Mr Farage "believes a united Ireland will happen".

The former UUP leader continued: "[Mr Farage] also stated that he 'always got on well with Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald', presumably while they were MEPs.

"Farage's intervention will be music to the ears of republicans on both sides of the border, to hear such comments from a leading figure in Great Britain, with a significant following as a broadcaster and pundit."

At the Tory conference in Manchester yesterday, where Mr Farage was interviewing delegates for the TV channel GB News, we put these criticisms to him. He replied: "So what I said at lunch with the Irish Times was there was no prospect of a united Ireland in the foreseeable future. No prospect whatsoever. The North doesn't want to join the Republic and the Republic wouldn't want the trouble the North brings.

"What I did say was I can't foresee where we're going to be in 100 years' time. I think I was slightly misquoted by the Irish Times, quite frankly."

Mr Farage added: "And as for Lord Empey, his reaction was frankly pretty vulgar, misguided and wrong."

This newspaper also asked Mr Farage about the suggestion that he had admitted he was friendly with Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Fein president.

He said: "I stood by her on a platform in the Irish referendum. If Empey is so tribal, so small-minded, that he can't understand that sometimes communities need to come together, maybe that's why our problems have lasted for so long."

Asked if he was ambivalent about a united Ireland, Mr Farage replied: "No! No, I support the Union. I've always supported the Union. I'm friends with the Paisley family."

We put to him the feeling expressed by Lord Empey, that some leading Brexiteers such as him do not care about Northern Ireland.

Mr Farage replied: "I'm a friend of the Paisley family. I think the Windsor Framework is a disaster. Despite that, there is no prospect of the united Ireland for the next 100 years.

"After that, who knows? If the Irish Times misquoted me on that, that's not my problem."

In his letter published on Saturday, Lord Empey said: "Some years ago, a number of leading members of the Ulster Unionist Party and other loyalist organisations, defected, and ran to the side of Nigel Farage and stood as Ukip candidates.

"This, they claimed, was a step forward for the unionist cause as the UUP 'wasn't tough enough' on republicans and the UK government.

"I wonder how those people feel today? They are all loyal unionists, but now see that they tried to convince unionists to vote for a party led by someone who isn't a true believer in the Union and has stabbed them in the back.

Lord Empey wrote: "There has been a tendency for some unionists to fall into the trap of believing that those espousing Brexit were, by definition, true blue unionists. Not so.

“I believe Farage is an English nationalist and Brexit is far more important to him than the Union.

“In a similar fashion, the DUP was intoxicated by Boris Johnson's empty rhetoric, not only about Brexit, but about his commitment to the Union. The day he sold us out to Brussels they even suggest his plan was a 'serious and sensibly way forward'!

“Both Farage and Johnson have been shown to have feet of clay, and good loyal unionists have been taken in by the spin and ambition of both.”

Also at the conference yesterday, the Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch announced the government would undertake a review of how regulators work during the Conservative Party conference. A 12-week call for evidence into the role of regulators will seek to create economic growth by freeing businesses of unneeded regulations, as well as provide new benefits for consumers and the environment.

"I want us to use our Brexit freedoms to scrap unnecessary regulations that hold back firms and hamper growth,” she said.