Nigel Farage was not misquoted on an all Ireland, says Irish Times

This week the News Letter asked the ex Ukip leader about his reported belief in the Irish Times that there would be an all Ireland. We did so at the Tory party conference in Manchester after criticism from the ex Ulster Unionist leader Lord Empey, who in this newspaper last Saturday noted that report and also that Mr Farage had reportedly said “that he always got on well with Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald”. This would be “music to the ears of republicans,” Lord Empey said.

But when we put this to Mr Farage on Monday as he was broadcasting for the TV channel GB News, pictured, 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." This newspaper also asked Mr Farage about Ms Lou McDonald. He said: "I stood by her on a platform in the Irish referendum.” He called Lord Empey “small-minded”.

The Irish Times reporter Mark Paul has contacted us, and said: “The verbatim quote, which I have on tape, is what was printed in the Irish Times. In full, it is ‘One day there will be a united Ireland. But it’s not on the horizon immediately. Just for practical reasons’.

“Further to that, and not in the article, I then immediately asked him that if there was a united Ireland, would it be Sinn Féin’s version of it (or more accurately, I suggested it probably wouldn’t be SF’s version and invited him to comment on that), and he said ‘No’. He was agreeing it would not be a SF version.”

Mr Paul said: “He never said anything like that to me about ‘100 years’ or any similarly constructed sentence. He might well think he said this but, actually, he didn’t – at least not to me. He was clear to me that he felt a united Ireland would happen ‘one day’ but it wouldn’t be soon. The quote I used reflected all of that. Everything I say above is backed up by the tape recording. I represented his comments fairly.”