Threat to sue over lurid tapes

NIGEL FARAGE has threatened to sue a senior Ukip politician over lurid allegations she made about his personal life.

Lawyers acting for the former party leader have accused Lisa Duffy, the party’s foreign aid spokeswoman, of defamation after she was secretly recorded making shocking claims about Mr Farage’s behaviour.

Her comments were recorded by a colleague on a mobile phone.

Ms Duffy was campaigning in Stoke yesterday and would not return calls or messages. But her husband, Peter Reeve, who is Ukip’s local government spokesman, said she was ‘too busy’ to comment.

Ms Duffy was appointed foreign aid spokeswoman by Ukip leader Paul Nuttall in December. She is also chief of staff to Ukip MEP Patrick O’Flynn.

Last summer, she ran to replace Mr Farage as Ukip leader and came second to Diane James, who lasted 18 days in the role before she resigned and forced a new round of elections.

It was during this time that Ms Duffy was secretly recorded making allegations against Mr Farage by a party official. Last night, a spokesman for Mr Farage said Ms Duffy’s comments ‘are untrue, malicious and libellous and we have begun legal proceedings’.

A Ukip spokesman said: ‘These allegations are the subject of an ongoing personal legal action and are not a Ukip matter.’

Mr Nuttall is standing in the Stoke by-election on February 23. Yesterday he was reported to have moved home amid fears for his safety, after being accused of lying when he claimed to be a survivor of the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy.