The Brexit Party could form an election pact with Boris Johnson aimed at delivering a “massive” Commons majority for a clean exit from the EU, Nigel Farage has signalled.

The former Ukip leader said if Mr Johnson became Prime Minister and had the “guts” to fight an election on a no-deal ticket, then there “is a deal that could be done” with his burgeoning party.

Mr Farage’s comments on Tuesday night, at Nigel Farage On Brexit: Live, an event hosted by The Telegraph, represented a boost for Mr Johnson, the front-runner to succeed Theresa May, after the MEP previously dismissed calls for his candidates to stand aside for Tory MPs committed to Brexit.

However, Mr Farage, who quit the Conservatives in 1992, insisted that none of the candidates to become Tory leader understood that their party would be “finished” if it failed to deliver a clean exit by Oct 31 – the current deadline agreed with the EU.

Asked about the prospect of forming a pact with the Tories under Mr Johnson, Mr Farage, whose party topped the polls in last month’s European Parliament elections, said: “If he has the guts to be prepared to be voted down by Parliament, to call an election on a clean Brexit, then I would suggest that ... logically there is a deal that could be done, and in those circumstances Boris would come back with a massive, massive majority.”