Ukip donor considering run at leadership after Farage quits

Farage, who boasted two stints at the helm of the party across the past decade, said he was stepping down because last month’s Leave result in the EU referendum meant “my political ambition has been achieved”.

Banks told the newspaper he was taking soundings from leading party figures, fellow donors and “normal” Ukip members about whether to stand.

“I’m feeling positive,” he said of the proposal, adding that he had been surprised at the encouragement he had received.

The insurance tycoon said that his potential candidacy would not affect his decision to use Leave.EU, the Brexit campaign that he funds, to boost Andrea Leadsom’s chances in the Conservative party leadership contest.

“I think she is the best Tory candidate to deliver Brexit,” he said.

Paul Nuttall, Ukip’s deputy leader, and the MEP Steven Woolfe are also expected to run in the contest.

The election of Nuttall, who was born in Merseyside, or Woolfe, who is from Manchester, would speak to Ukip’s tilt towards Labour’s heartlands in the north and Midlands, the report said.