The Brexit Party: Nigel Farage gives toe-curlingly awkward response when asked about Aaron Banks

Nigel Farage is a little bit touchy about Arron Banks.

As a co-founder of Leave.EU, Banks was a key figure in the 2016 referendum and previously donated large amounts of money to UKIP when Farage was leader.

And when the BBC’s Elizabeth Glinka asked him if Banks had expressed any interest in funding the new Brexit party, Farage immediately shut down.

It’s normally quite hard to get Farage to stop talking but this time he was lost for words and could only keep repeating the word “No”.

When Glinka pushed Farage to rule out taking any money from Banks, the interview became even more awkward.

Glinka: And if he came to you and said ‘I’ve got a million pounds here Nigel. I’d like to invest in your future in this new party’, what would you say to him?

Farage: *awkward pause* You’re not really getting this, are you?

Glinka: *incredibly awkward pause* I’m not sure you quite answered the question there… if Aaron Banks came to you and said he wanted to become a donor to your new party…

Farage: Six times I’ve told you… six times… six times I’ve told you no, right?

Some people interpreted Farage's flustered reaction as a sign of guilt.

While others were just amazed by how angry he was at such a simple, obvious question.

And there were also a few people sticking up for Nigel against the "Remoaner" BBC.

There is currently no evidence that The Brexit Party is funded by Arron Banks, which makes Farage's response even stranger.

The former UKIP leader has insisted the new party is being funded with small donations only.

However, concerns about Banks' funding of political groups stem from the 2016 referendum.

In 2018, a Parliamentary committee concluded that:

Arron Banks is believed to have donated £8.4 million to the Leave campaign, the largest political donation in British politics, but it is unclear from where he obtained that amount of money.

He failed to satisfy us that his own donations had, in fact, come from sources within the UK.

Banks has denied any wrongdoing.