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Slippery Nigel Farage has admitted he still wants Britain’s treasured NHS to be scrapped and replaced with a US-style private insurance-based system.

The UKIP leader was caught on video in 2012 telling supporters he would “feel more comfortable” with a privatised health system. As we've seen before, this would prove to be a very bad strategy.

When the bombshell video emerged last year, panicking UKIP spin doctors insisted Mr Farage’s views have since changed.

But in a new BBC interview to be aired this morning, Mr Farage says ditching the NHS is “a debate we’re going to have to return to”.

And he makes clear it was only abandoned as official UKIP policy due to pressure from worried pals.

Mr Farage said: “I triggered a debate within UKIP that was outright rejected by my colleagues, so I have to accept that.

“As time goes on, this is a debate that we’re all going to have to return to.”

The 2012 video proved highly toxic to UKIP, which is now trying to take votes from Labour as well as its traditional base of disaffected Tories.

In the clip, Thatcher-loving Mr Farage said: “I think we are going to have to move to an insurance-based system of healthcare.

“Frankly, I would feel more comfortable that my money would return value if I was able to do that through the marketplace of an insurance company, than just us trustingly giving £100billion a year to central government and expecting them to organise the healthcare service from cradle to grave for us.”

Labour said the comments show the self-styled ‘man-of-the-people’ was completely out of step with the public.

But in his latest interview Mr Farage insisted a dramatic change in approach will be needed to care for Britain’s ageing population.

“There is no question that healthcare provision is going to have to be very much greater in ten years than it is today, with an ageing population, and we’re going to have to find ways to do it,” he said.