US Republicans see Nigel Farage as 'serious and viable candidate who can run England in the near future'

This is how the US right sees the Ukip leader

Image from a flyer at the CPAC event where Nigel Farage will be speaking (Twitter/Dave Weigel)

While Nigel Farage may still cut something of a divisive figure in the UK, the Ukip leader has developed an increasingly powerful level of backing across the pond in the US.

Mr Farage has been invited to speak at the Republican party’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which brings together a mixture of the GOP’s mainstream and more right wing elements.

Striking a confident pose with a cigar, Ukip’s chief stares at the camera under a title that reads “The British Are Coming”.

An evident success story for the right in Britain, Mr Farage has it seems been seized upon by the Republican powers that be. Publicists for the Washington DC event have described him as a “political tour de force” who has “emerged as a serious and viable candidate who can run England in the near future”.

So what does Mr Farage think of his hosts? Well, it seems he isn’t quite as grateful as might be presumed. Speaking to Breitbart in the US earlier this month, he said: “I have no idea what the Republican Party stands for.

“I meet lots of individuals within it who want it to say one thing or another, but collectively it’s pretty blurry, it’s pretty unclear. If I was living over here, I would say to myself alright number one we’ve got to reclaim our party–we’ve got to take it away from being safe and establishment, because that way you’re never going to win because the Democrats have certain built-in advantages. If you are unable to reclaim your party, you might have to do a UKIP.”

It certainly makes for a self-assured display – and while Mr Farage isn’t realistically in the running to “run England” come May, it may not do his chances any harm to look like he has the US right on his side.