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It comes as Mr Farage blasted Theresa May's Florence speech, claiming the two-year delay was a Tory plot to win the next General Election. The former Ukip leader, who stepped down following last year’s EU referendum, has reportedly told his friends that he will form a breakaway party if favourite Anne Marie Waters wins the party leadership election. Mr Farage reportedly warned friends that Ukip would be "finished" if it became anti-Islam. Earlier Ms Waters had claimed “millions" of Britons agreed with her view that Islam was “evil”.

GETTY Nigel Farage to form new political party

It is understood the MEP could create the new movement within days of Ukip’s latest leadership contest at the party conference in Torquay on Friday. According to sources the former Ukip leader has booked a room in Strasbourg for the following Monday when he is expected to announce the formal launch of his new breakaway party. Almost all of Ukip’s 20 MEPs are likely to follow Mr Farage if Ms Waters is successful, insiders told The Mail on Sunday. According to the newspaper, Mr Farage said: “The party would be ‘finished’ if it became an anti-Islamic party.”

Brexit debate in pictures Mon, April 17, 2017 The debate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg will focus on key issues of the Brexit talks including reciprocal rights for EU citizens, the peace process in Northern Ireland and trade Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 23 Former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage (L) gestures as he speaks with EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker (R) prior to a debate on the conclusions of the last European Council, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg

Following the Prime Minister’s Brexit speech delaying our EU withdrawal until 2021, which Mr Farage described as “sticking two fingers up to the millions of people who voted for Brexit”, he has told friends that he is ready to launch his new movement. The right-wing MEP hopes to use the next 18 months to protest against Theresa May’s attempt to try to keep the UK in the EU by ‘the back door’. Former Ukip donor Arron Banks, 51, said Ms Waters would give the party a “decent burial” if she became leader. The businessman said he feared the Ukip frontrunner would turn the party into “BNP lite” and her leadership of the party would “put the final nail in its coffin.

GETTY Nigel Farage to form new political party

The country needs an effective political movement to stop May from selling out on the Brexit which British people voted for last year.” Mr Farage would also use the new party as an opportunity to shed his old enemies in Ukip, such as the former Tory Mp Neil Hamilton. His successor, Paul Nuttall, lasted just six months as leader following a disastrous General Election in which it won 1.8 per cent of the UK vote. The director of Sharia Watch, Ms Waters, has made a series of controversial remarks about Islam, saying: “We ought to be able in this country to say whatever we like about a religion and the problem we have got is that we pussyfoot around, we spend so much time agonising over not saying the wrong thing, and this is what’s putting the public off.

Nigel Farage in pictures Mon, April 3, 2017 Nigel Farage is a British politician who has been the leader of the UK Independence Party since October 2016. Play slideshow Getty 1 of 48 Nigel Farage in pictures

GETTY Farage to appeal to Tory Eurosceptic voters