The man President-elect Donald Trump would like to be the next British ambassador to the United States may have his eye on Maine.
The former leader of the Independence Party in the United Kingdom and prominent backer of the country’s controversial exit from the European Union, Nigel Farage has hinted he may move to Trump’s America.
According to The Times of London, Farage said that if he was rich enough he wouldn’t live in bustling New York City.
“I’d be out in Maine, somewhere coastal,” Farage said.
Later, though, Norman Smith, a BBC politics editor, tweeted that Farage called the notion he would emigrate to the U.S. “utter nonsense.”
Farage and Trump are close. After appearing at campaign rallies with the Republican contender, he was the first British politician to pay a call to Trump after the election. They posed together at Trump Tower.
This week, though, Farage landed in the middle of a political firestorm in his home country after Trump mentioned the British politician on Twitter.
“Many people would like to see @Nigel_Farage represent Great Britain as their ambassador to the United States. He would do a great job!” Trump tweeted.
But the conservative British government quickly responded to Trump’s suggestion with the assertion that “no vacancy” existed in the ambassador’s job.
The country’s chancellor, Philip Hammond, told ITV that Britain has “an excellent ambassador” already. He added that “it isn’t for other countries to decide who we appoint as ambassadors and if I ever need any advice from Nigel Farage, I’ve got his number and I’ll give him a call. Tell him not to hold his breath.”
Farage said change is needed in London as well as Washington.
In a piece he wrote for Breitbart News, Farage said Trump’s tweet came “like a bolt from the blue.”
“I can still scarcely believe that he did that, though speaking to a couple of his long-time friends perhaps I am a little less surprised. They all say the same thing: that Trump is a very loyal man and supports those that stand by him,” Farage wrote.
“It is called trust and it is how the whole world of business operates. Sadly, the cesspit that is career politics understands nothing of this. In their world the concept of trust is transitory,” he wrote.
The Telegraph reported that Farage is planning to embark soon on a speaking tour across America, pulling in $10,000 or more per speech.
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