The Brexit Party leader was appearing on BBC’s Question Time on Tuesday night, where he was subjected to a half hour grilling from the studio audience. The show was based in Peterborough, which voted by an overwhelming majority (60.9% vs 39.1%) to leave the EU. Last week, Mr Farage took the unusual step of standing down his party’s candidates in 317 constituencies with a Tory MP.

But he insisted he would still field candidates in Labour leave seats which the Conservatives are hoping to win, despite coming under intense pressure from the Tories not to do so.

When asked by a member of the studio audience whether this decision would “end up destroying the one thing you set out to achieve, Brexit?”, the Brexit Party leader categorically disagreed.

He argued that it was essential to give Labour leave voters a choice of party for which they could vote.

He said: “There are 5 million Labour leave voters in this country and many of them would not vote Conservative if you paid them.

“That’s for historical and cultural reasons.”

He pointed to what happened in Peterborough in the 2015 and 2017 elections, by way of explanation.

In 2015 UKIP contested the seat, winning a large number of votes, but ultimately losing to the Conservative candidate, Stuart Jackson, a Eurosceptic.

In 2017 UKIP decided not to contest the seat, so as to avoid splitting the Leave vote.

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The result was that a large number of UKIP voters went back to the Labour Party and Labour ended up winning the seat.

Mr Farage said that he stood down his party’s candidates in Tory held constituencies, because Mr Johnson had promised not to have alignment with EU rules and to pursue a Canada style trade deal.

When Fiona Bruce, the programme’s host asked whether Mr Farage could “trust Boris to keep that promise”, the Brexit Party leader quipped: “Boris is good at making promises but not always keeping them.”

He added: “We need to get a Brexit Party voice in the House of Commons to hold him to those promises.”

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And in order to do that, the Brexit Party will target Labour held seats.

Mr Farage insisted that he wants “Brexit to happen” and said: “I think it is vital for our democracy that the referendum result is upheld.

“By attacking Labour, not only are we going to get Brexit, but I hope we are going to get the right Brexit.”

On Tuesday evening Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn went head-to-head in the ITV leaders’ debate.

The Prime Minister tore into Jeremy Corbyn over his “absurd dither and delay” Brexit policy.

He asked the Labour leader nine times to spell out whether he would support remaining in the EU or leaving the bloc if a second referendum is triggered – but failed to get an answer.

The Prime Minister said: “We don’t know on which side Mr Corbyn will campaign. Will he campaign for Leave or Remain?

“Mr Corbyn is trying to conceal the void at the heart of their Brexit policy.”

The Labour chief repeatedly said he would give voters “the final say” without specifying his own position.

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