LONDON: Rarely photographed without a pint of beer in hand, Nigel Farage has turned the UK Independence Party into a national force but is battling for his future at Britain's May 7 election.
Anti-Brussels and anti-political correctness, Farage reminds UKIP's base of older, white, blue collar voters of a bygone era when the economy felt stronger, immigration was lower and Britain was great.
The charismatic 51-year-old, who once compared ex-European Council president Herman Van Rompuy to a "damp rag", led UKIP to victory in last year's European elections and third place in opinion polls before May's vote.
Once dismissed by Prime Minister David Cameron as a party of "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists", UKIP is now defending two House of Commons seats and looks set to take thousands of votes nationwide from the main parties.
But while his "people's army" looks likely to win a handful of seats nationally, this is unlikely to be enough for them to call the shots over a referendum on Britain leaving the European Union.
And Farage, a former commodities trader, says he will step down as party leader if he does not win his own seat in the seaside constituency of South Thanet.
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