Gavin Esler called his dog 'Farage' and the jokes wrote themselves

If you're in need of a spot of light relief from the unrelenting news cycle, then look no further, because Gavin Esler of Change UK has revealed that he's named his pet dog 'Farage', after Nigel Farage of the Brexit Party.

Yes, you read that correctly. Oh, the comedy genius.

Former BBC correspondent Gavin Esler announced that he'd be standing for Change UK: The Independent Group, the 'anti-Brexit party', in the European elections earlier in April.

Speaking at the party's first rally today in London, Esler revealed that he'd renamed his pet dog after Nigel Farage because:

It won’t go out in the rain, it won’t clean up its mess behind him.

Delightful stuff.

Sebastian Payne, the Financial Times' Whitehall Correspondent, shared the news with his followers on Twitter, where the jokes soon began to write themselves.

Some wondered if he hated his dog or loved Nigel Farage.

Others asked him to just make the whole thing stop.

The odd person thought it was an example of Brexit Derangement syndrome.

And was quite offended.

Others thought the entire thing was rather hilarious.

And most picked up on the candidate's reasons for choosing the name 'Farage'.

Incidentally, this isn't the first time that the novelist-cum-politician has suggested re-naming his pooch after the right-wing beer-slugging head of the Brexit Party.

In March, he tweeted:

Maybe I should re-name our dog “Farage” because he barks a lot but won’t go for a walk in the rain.

It looks like the idea has finally come to fruition. We wonder if the dog's bark is worse than its bite?