‘…..The leader of Britain’s most talked about political party looks tired. Whether this is because he has been working 24/7 for the past few months on the European elections, or because he was up until 3.30am last night – smoking cigars and downing glasses of red wine – with delegates of the ITT conference, is unclear.

Nigel Farage however, dressed in his trademark pinstripe suit, is somehow still full of energy, and keen to explain his grand plans for growing tourism in Britain.

“I think the UK is missing a trick in a huge way,” he blusters. “Angling is the biggest participant sport in Britain apart from football.” I check to make sure he isn’t joking – this wasn’t quite the response I had been expecting to my question: “So how well do you know the travel industry?”

“The US east coast gets it big time,” he continues. “They had a moratorium on commercial fishing – it’s so big in Florida, it’s unbelievable.”

”I don’t want any travel directive. I hate the word directive – it’s reminiscent of communism and socialism and other such things”

Is this Farage’s plan for growing tourism in the UK then? “Of course,” he answers emphatically. “We should be doing the same as Florida – three miles off the shore, we should place some old car tyres and concrete bits on the sea bed and we would have a whole eco-system thing with lots of fish. We could do it in the West Country and South Wales – it would be the most incredible boost to tourism.”

Fishing for mackerel in the Atlantic seems perhaps rather less exotic than chasing down marlin in the Gulf of Mexico, however the reason for Farage’s tourism brainwave becomes clearer after I question whether he himself is an angler. “Yes!” he says forcefully, smacking his palm with his fist. “That’s how I know all about the subject.”