Nigel Farage predicts Ukip win as he casts vote in Kent

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/22/nigel-farage-predicts-ukip-win-vote-kent

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Beaming his Cheshire Cat grin, Nigel Farage was only "reasonably" confident of Ukip's election chances as he cast his own vote in the green-belt village of Cudham, Kent.

Having strolled up the leafy lane to the polling station at the pretty flint village school, he posed for photographers who shouted: "Nigel. This way, Nigel. And the other side. That's it. Now, just carry on walking."

"Nigel, can you just put your hand up?" inquired one, gesturing.

The smile faltered briefly. "No," Farage said. "Sorry, but you've got to be very careful about that sort of thing." Quite. The Ukip leader was not about to provide easy ammunition with an unfortunate polling-day pose.

By the time Farage had voted at 10am, perhaps another 20 or so voters had trickled through the doors of the 19th-century village school, founded in 1851 with the naturalist Charles Darwin as one of its subscribers.

A retired couple, arriving a few minutes later, looked taken aback at the cameras and, on being told Farage was inside voting, decided to wait until he had finished.

Did they not want to meet him? "Not particularly," said the elderly gentleman. "I don't think he and I have got a lot in common.

"Having said that," he added, "I'll probably vote Ukip." His wife nodded. "Well, I agree with every word he says," she said emphatically.

Farage bounced out seconds later to take questions from the assembled media. Was he confident? Reasonably. He had slept well. In some polls it was "absolutely neck and neck" and others had Ukip in the lead, he said. He cast his eyes up to the glowering skies. "It's all about turnout. And if our people are motivated before the rain comes and go and vote then I think we will get over the line."

What about the Croydon carnival, a reporter shouted. No response. Or the fact the party had been called racist? "Well, I have never heard such rot in all my life," he replied.

"Are you proud of your origins?" shouted another journalist with a pronounced foreign accent. Farage looked momentarily stumped. "Am I proud of my origins? In what sense?" It was probably not a Darwinian question and he took a second or two to mull over its meaning, before plumping for: "Well, who knows where we all come from."

On a roll, he continued: "We have got standing for us in these elections, I bet, a broader array of global nationalities than any other party. So they can try to abuse us, but it is not going to work."

These were important elections, he stressed, and if Ukip got the result it wanted, "things will never be quite the same again". The "allegations" against the party by the political establishment had "stiffened people's resolve", he added.

It was time to trot out a statistic. "Twenty minutes ago the immigration figures were out – 526,000 people settled in this country last year. It's just impossible. We cannot go on with numbers like that."

"OK. Everybody happy?" His point made, he was off, strolling back down the narrow lane and past the Old Jail public house. "If it was a bit later, I would," he said looking at its door, "but it's a bit early for me."

A car slowed down and a tattooed arm shot out of the window to give a thumbs-up as the driver shouted: "Good luck." The next car honked twice in appreciation. "Thank you," shouted Farage to both. "That's a couple of votes there," he added.

It was going to be an odd sort of day, he mused, the sort of day for mowing the lawn, doing some paperwork, perhaps picking up the kids from school. "I woke up this morning and felt completely vacant. I went out and bought the newspapers, and I thought: 'Where do I go? What do I do?'

"I have been working on this for three and a half years. So, it is an odd day."

The calm before the storm.