UKIP leader Nigel Farage has said he will not be standing in the Newark by-election, sparked by disgraced former Tory minister Patrick Mercer's decision to quit over a cash-for-questions scandal.
"I think it's the wrong seat for me," Nigel Farage told ITV News Political Editor Tom Bradby today after shooting down speculation that he would stand as an MP in the upcoming by-election in for Newark, Nottinghamshire.
"I think I would have been seen as being an interloper, an outsider, an opportunist - I think for those reasons I wouldn't have won anyway," he added.
Nigel Farage believes efforts to discredit him and his party are failing - and the polls suggest he may well be right.
Almost one third of Britons think that Ukip is a racist party, according to a new ITV News/ComRes poll.