Farage: Yes, I’ve got a bachelor pad. No, I’m not leaving wife
NIGEL FARAGE yesterday publicly denied his marriage is on the rocks after it emerged he is living in a ‘bachelor’s pad’ in London during the week.
The former Ukip leader said he is staying in a ‘borrowed’ home owned by a friend, but denied claims that the move is linked to a rift with second wife Kirsten. The couple have two daughters, aged 16 and 11.
Mr Farage, 52, shrugged off new questions on the state of his marriage, saying: ‘We get by and bumble along, like most people.’ He went on: ‘I am borrowing a flat from somebody and it will last as long as it lasts. It is not the first time.
‘I normally stay in a club which costs £85 to £90 a night. I will probably revert to that in a few months’ time but this is cheaper and less impersonal.’
He declined to say who owned the flat. The disclosure that he lives in London most of the week follows his ‘I want my life back’ vow in the aftermath of the EU referendum.
He stepped down as Ukip leader and his MEP role will disappear in two years when the UK leaves the EU.
From his family home in Downe, near Westerham in Kent, only 30 miles from London, Mr Farage said he spends more weekends at home since quitting his Ukip role.
He added: ‘In fact, I’ve been tobogganing this morning.’
Asked how moving into a London flat from Monday to Friday squared with his ‘I want my life back’ pledge, he said he ‘understood’ why some might query it, explaining: ‘I’m getting my life back… I also have time to pursue some different careers and a few other avenues.’
Mr Farage married German- born Kirsten in 1999 after his divorce from first wife, Gráinne Hayes, an Irish nurse.
His wife will not be at his side when he attends friend Donald Trump’s inauguration as US President in Washington this Friday. ‘We did discuss it, but she hates publicity and there will be a blaze of it around me,’ said Mr Farage.
Mrs Farage was also absent from a champagne party at London’s Ritz Hotel last month to celebrate Mr Farage’s 25 years campaigning to quit the EU. She was at home babysitting their children.
However, his grown-up sons from his first marriage, Sam and Tom, were at the party.
Asked about the possibility of a second marriage split, a close friend of Mr Farage said: ‘You have to understand Nigel and Kirsten will always put their daughters first.’
Since his key role in Brexit, Mr Farage has become a global celebrity and been lauded by Mr Trump. He was the first British politician to meet the President-elect.
He has been tipped for an array of new roles, including US envoy in Brussels, a peerage and a job in the Trump administration.
Mr Farage has avoided appearing in public with his wife and children for two years after anti-Ukip protesters chased them out of the Queen’s Head pub in Downe.
His love life hit the headlines in 2014, when Nikki Sinclaire, a former Ukip MEP, used a debate in the EU Parliament to claim Mr Farage had both his second wife and a former mistress on the public payroll.
Ms Sinclaire said Annabelle Fuller, a Ukip press officer, had been his mistress – a charge Ms Fuller and Mr Farage denied.
Mr Farage said he had not even kissed her though his wife was ‘pretty cheesed off’ about the allegations.
But Mr Farage has admitted having had a fling with a 25-year-old Latvian woman a decade ago, saying: ‘Yes, I’ve made mistakes.’
‘We bumble along like most people’