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Nigel Farage has branded the BBC "the enemy" after he was asked about his own past comments in a major interview.

The Brexit Party leader hit out after being grilled by Andrew Marr on remarks he made when leading UKIP.

Mr Marr said he was trying to explore the Brexit Party's wider policies - since it hasn't made them clear and doesn't have an EU election manifesto, despite soaring up in the polls.

But Mr Farage claimed it was the "most ridiculous interview in my life".

The Brexiteer did answer some questions put to him - including whether he still believed immigrants with HIV should not be treated on the NHS, or whether he stood by the infamous 'Breaking Point' poster of 2016. (The answer's more or less 'yes' to both).

But others he dodged around, or tried to move on from quickly, by attacking his interviewer's choice of questions.

(Image: REUTERS)

So in the interests of transparency, we've compared what he said today to the original quotes he was being asked about.

This way you can judge for yourself if he's right to be angry at old issues being dragged up - or they're something for which he should be held to account.

On replacing the NHS with insurance

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What BBC asked: "Do you still want to replace the NHS with a private insurance basis?"

What Farage claimed today: "I never did. I would like – I would like to take the burden off the NHS... If I was encouraged to opt out of the system to relieve the burden of the NHS I would do so gleefully."

What Farage said: "I think we’re going to have to think about healthcare very, very differently. 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 market place of an insurance company than just us trustingly giving £100bn a year to central government and expecting them to organise the healthcare service from cradle to grave for us." (September 2012)

On a second Brexit referendum

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What BBC asked: "You now say that a second referendum, or another referendum would be in your phrase, ‘the ultimate betrayal.’ How can it be the ultimate betrayal when you yourself have advocated it?"

What Farage claimed today: "Oh dear, oh dear. Now look, I’ve said we have to prefer ourselves on the leave side mentally for the fact there could be another referendum. If there is we have to fight it and win it."

What Farage said: “The Cleggs, the Blairs, the Adonis’s will never ever give up. They will go on whinging and wining and moaning all the way through this process. So maybe, just maybe, I’m reaching the point of thinking that we should have a second referendum".(January 2018). “In a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way . If the remain campaign win two-thirds to one-third that ends it." (May 2016) .

On inventing the phrase 'no deal is better than a bad deal'

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What BBC asked: "Nigel Farage, in 2016 why did you not advocate no deal [ Brexit ]?"

What Farage claimed today: "Oh no, no, no. In the referendum itself I was the one that coined the phrase, ‘no deal is better than a bad deal'... I was using [it] every day for the last two weeks of that campaign."

What Farage said: It's true that Mr Farage told the Mirror in June 2016: "No deal but continuing under WTO rules would be better and cheaper for this country than where we currently are."

But so far we haven't been able to find evidence that - as he claims - Nigel Farage coined the phrase "no deal is better than a bad deal" and used it in the referendum campaign. The phrase has been uttered in 3,172 mainstream newspaper or website news articles since 1 January 2016. However, the first of those was on 25 July 2016 - a month after the referendum result. And it came from Richard Tice, the founder of the Leave Means Leave group (and now Brexit Party chairman), not Nigel Farage.

Likewise we've searched our e-mails for any press releases or interview transcripts containing the term. The first we found was on 18 September 2016, again from Mr Tice and Leave Means Leave.

We asked a spokesman for any evidence of Mr Farage using the phrase in the EU referendum campaign. We were pointed to an example in June 2016 when he said "no deal is better than the rotten deal that we have at the moment" - but of course that's comparing No Deal to EU membership, not to a future 'bad' Brexit deal.

On a Norway style Brexit

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What BBC asked: "When it comes to something like a closer relationship, as Norway has, you’re talking about betrayal. During the referendum you used to laud that, you used to present it as a wonderful opportunity."

What Farage claimed today: "No, no no... I said Norway is doing better than we are. However, as I said on this programme, we can do much better than that. We could have gone for a free trade deal, we didn’t. We’re now three years on, we have to deliver the democratic will of the people of this country and the only way we can do that is by leaving on WTO terms."

What Farage said: While he did say he would choose No Deal if it came to it, Farage also praised Norway in an EU referendum debate, saying sarcastically: “It would be ghastly if this country was like Norway. Can you imagine it? Rich, free, catching your own fish, and with a seat at the World Trade Organisation!”(May 2016)

On admiring Vladimir Putin

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What BBC asked: "Do you still admire Vladimir Putin?"

What Farage claimed today: "No. I’ve never admired Vladimir Putin. I said I wouldn’t like to live in his country, this is absolute nonsense... [It was] 'Not as a human being'. So I don’t like him as a human being. What is your question? What is the relevance of this?"

What Farage said: Asked which current world leader he most admired, he told GQ: "As an operator, but not as a human being, I would say Putin. The way he played the whole Syria thing. Brilliant. Not that I approve of him politically. How many journalists in jail now?" (March 2014).

On hearing foreign languages on a train

What BBC asked: "Do you still feel uncomfortable with foreign languages being spoken on trains?"

What Farage claimed today: "You are just not interested, are you? Let’s talk about democracy, let’s talk about trust, let’s talk about competence in politics. This is ludicrous.'

What Farage said: “We stopped at London Bridge, New Cross, Hither Green, it was not until we got past Grove Park that I could hear English being audibly spoken in the carriage. Does that make me feel slightly awkward? Yes it does."(February 2014)

On rolling back anti-gun laws in the UK

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What BBC asked: "Do you still want to roll back gun controls and reintroduce handguns into this country?"

What Farage claimed today: "This sums it up. D’you know, 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?"

What Farage said: “I think the kneejerk legislation that Blair brought in that meant that the British Olympic pistol team have to go to France to even practise was just crackers... I think that we need a proper gun licensing system, which to a large extent I think we already have, and I think the ban on handguns is ludicrous."(January 2014)