Ukip leader Nigel Farage claims the NHS 'almost' killed him

Ukip leader Nigel Farage has said the National Health Service almost killed him and accused medics of "incompetence and negligence", in extracts from his memoirs 'The Purple Revolution', serialised in the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Farage claimed he was "fobbed off by one NHS doctor to the next" who failed to diagnose his testicular cancer when he was just 21, and said "without private health care I would probably be dead".

Speaking candidly about his diagnosis and his subsequent treatment by a private clinic, which included the removal of one of his testicles, Mr Farage insisted he was "better qualified to criticise and defend our health care system than most politicians".

Mr Farage goes on to praise the NHS for being "astonishingly good" at emergency critical care but claims it will "probably let you down" over screening and a fast diagnosis.

He said the system is "so over-stretched that if you can afford private health care, you should take it" and warned that the NHS "is so battered and poorly run that unless you are really lucky, you will fall through the cracks".

Mr Farage also revealed that he "nearly died three times" and a serious car accident when he was 24 and a plane crash on the day of the 2010 election has left him with the body of a 70-year-old.

He said: "Having nearly died three times has made me a much bigger risk-taker. When you think your life is about to be taken away and you are given it back, you just want to get on and do things.

"There's no time to waste: children to bring up, elections to win, pheasants to pluck, wine to drink."