Nigel Farage has launched a furious rant at Andrew Marr during a heated appearance on live television, accusing the BBC presenter of conducting the most “ridiculous” interview ever.

The Brexit Party leader reacted with fury after being asked whether he still agreed with a series of controversial statements he had made in the past.

Pushed on his previous comments about Vladimir Putin, gun control and immigrants with HIV, Mr Farage initially tried to defend the claims but quickly lost his temper at the line of questioning and demanded he instead be asked about this month’s European parliament elections.

He told Marr during an appearance on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “Do you want to discuss these European elections or not? Go on then – let’s try.”

As the presenter continued with his questioning, Mr Farage added: “Here we are with one of the biggest changes in politics that’s ever occurred and you’re not even interested. What is wrong with the BBC?

“I’ve been going round the country speaking at packed rallies every night and do you know who’s not there? The BBC, and from this line of questioning now I can see why.

“You’re just not interested, are you? You are just not interested. Let’s talk about democracy, let’s talk about trust, let’s talk about competence in politics. This is ludicrous.”

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He continued: “This is absolutely ludicrous. I’ve never in my life seen a more ridiculous interview than this. You are not prepared to talk about what is going on in this country today. You’re in denial, the BBC is in denial, the Tory and Labour parties are in denial.”

Referring to European elections later this month, which polls suggest his party is on course to win, Mr Farage added: “I think you’re all in for a bigger surprise on Thursday week than you can even imagine.”

The former Ukip leader was asked about a series of previous clams, including that he wanted to abolish the NHS, “admired” Vladimir Putin’s leadership style and believed that worrying about global warming was “the stupidest thing in human history”.

Marr also pressed him on suggestions that he wanted to roll back gun controls in the UK, was uncomfortable with foreign languages being spoken on trains and thought that immigrants with HIV should not be allowed into the UK.

After Mr Farage had defended his previous comments, he turned his guns on the presenter, saying: “What is the relevance of this? What is the relevance of any of it? You haven’t asked about a single other member of the Brexit Party, you haven’t commented on the fact we’ve got the most diverse list of candidates of any party fighting in this election.

“That’s worth discussing isn’t it? How have we managed to get left and right together? These things are really interesting to your viewers – not trawling back through a series of quotes from years ago.”

He could be seen shaking his head angrily as the interview finished.

Lincoln man asks Nigel Farage if he's been to prison during Brexit Party walkabout

Mr Farage launched the Brexit Party last month after quitting Ukip in protest at its direction under current leader Gerard Batten.

He told Marr that his new party would never publish a manifesto, saying it was a “discredited word”.

He said: “I will never, ever use the word manifesto again. Manifesto to me has a word association with lie, because that’s what we’ve had at election after election. Policy platforms [but] no manifestos from the Brexit Party – it’s a bad, discredited word.”

He also defended a controversial poster used by Ukip in 2016 that showed a queue of immigrants under the caption “breaking point” – but admitted that his current party would not have released it.

He said: “We’re in different circumstances... As years go by, decades evolve, different issues come to the fore. Throughout that period of time, there is no question that the number one issue in British politics was immigration – people’s concerns about open borders and the impact on wages and access to public health care.

“The number one issue in British politics now is democracy – the failure of our political parties to keep their promises. That is what the country is debating.”