Both David Cameron and Nigel Farage have refused to rule out a deal between the Conservatives and Ukip after the next election.
The prime minister was twice asked whether he would ever align with Ukip in a coalition on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, but each time dodged the question. Cameron said he would not comment on any potential coalition combinations before the election.
He also declined to be rude about Ukip’s policies as he would with Labour and the Liberal Democrats, merely saying some of the anti-EU party’s members held some “extraordinary” views.
“We see day after day, week after week they were having to expel people because they have said appalling things about different sorts of people and people who choose different lifestyles, people who think that gay marriage caused floods,” he said. “They have clearly got some issues but what I choose to focus on is the positive vision that I’ve got for the future of our country and the real choice.”
The Ukip leader, Farage, also declined to rule out a deal with Tories, while rejecting any sort of alliance with Labour or the Scottish National party.
Asked about working with Cameron on Sky News’s Murnaghan programme, he said: “I think we’re jumping the gun a bit here. I don’t think anybody knows what’s going to happen in this general election. It’s the most open general election in decades so we are running a bit ahead of ourselves here.”
This is a change in tone from previous interviews, in which Farage has said he would not work with Cameron, who once called Ukip a bunch of “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists”.
At other times, however, Farage has said he would do a deal with the devil if it meant getting the UK out of the European Union.
Pressed again on whether he would work with Cameron, Farage said: “I’m pretty clear I want my country back. I want us to be a self-governing nation. The big elephant in the room still is the fact that most of our legislation is not made in this country, it’s made somewhere else.
“I want our democracy back, I want control of our borders back. I want us to be able to negotiate our own deals on the world stage.
“To do all of that I need a referendum. We need a referendum.” He said it was too early to start discussing alliances, although he dismissed the idea of joining up with Labour or the Scottish National party.
“I don’t see Ukip being joined together with Labour and the SNP at all. I really don’t. In fact I would regard it even if we were in that position as unlikely that Ukip would want to be in coalition with anybody.
“But what you can do is give support to minority governments in return for what you want.”
Chuka Umunna, Labour’s shadow business secretary, said there was a huge amount of difference between Labour and Ukip but the voters would decide who wins power.
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