Nigel Farage may be looking to topple Labour in next week’s Heywood and Middleton by-election – but he is hoping to eat David Cameron for breakfast over his Euro stance.
The UKIP leader tucked into a bacon sandwich as he visited Middleton to drum up support for his party and candidate Jon Bickley in a bid to grab the seat the late Labour MP Jim Dobbin made his own for two decades.
But it was the Prime Minister who Mr Farage slammed, after he admitted earlier this week that he would not be ‘heartbroken’ if Britain left the European Union.
He told MM: “I don’t know if anything that man says he sincerely believes. I have no real trust or faith in him whatsoever.
“He has said for year after year after year for his whole career that membership of the EU is vital for this country. The only reason he’s moved the language is because he is absolutely terrified of our guys.”
FULL OF IDEAS: Nigel Farage tucks into a bacon sandwich
Mr Cameron had claimed that ‘a vote for UKIP is a vote for Labour’ at his conference speech yesterday after the party made massive gains in the last year.
And with the Eurosceptic party on a collision course with Ed Miliband’s charges in the October 9 by-election battle, Mr Farage insists the big two parties in Westminster will be facing a fight to maintain their hold on power in next year’s General Election.
“We are shifting the UK’s political agenda in terms of rhetoric,” he said. “Whether that will ever come to action? I doubt it.
“That’s why we need to have a UKIP presence in Westminster next year to make sure this rhetoric becomes reality.
“We are not a little fringe party, we are taking on the establishment here.”
Chief among his plans to take on the traditional powerbase of UK politics, is a battle with the red party for blue collar workers.
In his own party conference speech, Mr Farage outlined plans to scrap inheritance tax, slash immigration and allow employers to discriminate in favour of British workers.
Plans to target the wealthy with a luxury goods tax were also seen as a nod to the working classes.
The UKIP leader’s challenge to Westminster is set to begin in Kent constituency Thanet South where he will be looking capitalise on the party’s momentum to gain a seat.
BITING: UKIP have eaten into Labour and the Conservatives’ powerbase
But his focus right now is on Middleton, and he also spoke out on Mr Cameron’s move to join the US in launching air strikes on the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
A parliamentary vote last week saw 524 MPs vote in favour of action, while only 43 were against with Mr Miliband joining forces with election rival to push through the plan.
ISIS are still holding Salford aid worker Alan Henning hostage after beheading American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff as well as fellow Brit David Haines.
But Mr Farage bucked the trend and suggested that he is not behind bombing the region – a view that Labour supporters may not be too keen to share.
“I suspect they might [support the plans] because I think it was six times [Former PM Tony]Blair went to war,” he said.
“I’m not against going to war if that’s the right thing to do, far from it, but I think some of those missions like Libya have made those countries worse than they were before.
“So I don’t think air strikes alone in Iraq at the moment will achieve anything like what is needed.”
