Farage says that “a couple of dozen“ Tory MPs would be open to pacts with UKIP

The UKIP leader's figure is "spot on", says Conservative MP Philip Hollobone.

Nigel Farage is doing his best to steal the limelight from George Osborne today with a stringe of fringe appearances outside the Conservative secure zone. He quipped to cheers at one event: “If Godfrey Bloom disrupted my conference, I like to think I’m disrupting and ruining David Cameron’s.”

But it was on Radio 4 earlier today that Farage’s most notable comments came. After reaffirming his support for local non-aggression pacts between Tory and UKIP candidates in today’s Times, he told the World At One that he estimated that “a couple of dozen” Conservative MPs would be open to agreement. Tory MP Philip Hollobone, who won the backing of UKIP in 2010, went on to describe Farage’s figure as “spot on”.