Nigel Farage loses £10,000 bet on Donald Trump winning the US election

Brexit Party leader claims US president’s loss is only ‘temporary setback’

Nigel Farage is set to lose £10,000 after he bet that Donald Trump would win the US election.

The Brexit Party leader appears to have made the wager after Mr Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen put down $10,000 on a Joe Biden victory.

He even posted a picture of himself holding a sign displaying the 15/8 bet in Washington DC with the Capitol building in the background as the polls closed on 3 November, and declared that he was “absolutely optimistic” of winning.

The betting firm involved heavily promoted both wagers on its website and published a "Nigel Farage vs Michael Cohen" election day debate on Youtube.

Mr Farage said: "Trump's got the momentum, we know what happened in 2016... I think that's a very dumb bet from Michael Cohen."

Meanwhile Mr Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in 2018 for campaign finance violations, told the betting firm that Mr Trump "will be the loser". He added: "Donald J. Trump cares for no one or anything other than himself.”

Just over two hours after Mr Biden's victory was declared, Mr Cohen tweeted to say he had won the bet at odds of 1-2.

He said the money was going to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the non-profit legal and advocacy organisation, and suggested they could help Reality Winner, a former intelligence specialist who was jailed for giving classified material to a news website.

"Congratulations to the @ACLU on being the recipient of the @guesser bet I placed on  @JoeBiden to #win!," Mr Cohen tweeted. "I only ask that you use it to help with someone like #RealityWinner and #PrisonReform."

The betting firm has not yet commented on whether the bet has been paid out. Several other firms have confirmed they are paying out on a Biden victory, but others said they were not. 

Paddy Power told impatient gamblers it was waiting “until there is clarity around any ongoing recounts and any potential legal challenges to the results before we can settle the market.”

Mr Farage did not refer to the bet in his early responses to Mr Biden's victory.

In a call to talkRADIO after Mr Biden’s Pennsylvania victory, Farage accepted the former vice-president was "most likely" to become president despite the Trump campaign's attempts to pursue legal action.

"Realistically it is unlikely that the result of this election will change," he said.

"But there's another way of looking at it. He launched this superhuman effort, he won 70 million votes, he got more black votes, more latino votes than the republican party ever got. He won seats in the lower house. All of that means is that Biden is effectively a lame duck president. Actually, Trump has massively exceeded expectations."

Mr Farage also claimed that Mr Trump would remain as leader of the Republican Party and will "view this as a temporary setback".

He later took to Twitter to complain: "Four years ago when Trump won, broadcasters showed scenes of people in shock and crying. Today, a Biden declaration shows coverage that would make you think Jesus had returned."

Several Twitter users responded by mocking his losing bet.