Ukip's Nigel Farage hit over the head with 'Nasty Little Nigel' placard in Kent

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Ukip leader Nigel Farage has been attacked by a group of protesters in Kent, in a visit that saw him clobbered over the head with a placard that read "Nasty Little Nigel".

The South East MEP was met with an angry group as he approached the Walpole Bay Hotel in Cliftonville, with demonstrators shouting and one man jingling a purple tambourine in Mr Farage’s face.

He was ushered inside by police, as around 40 protesters pushed and shoved him. He later said he didn't like their behaviour but insisted "it won’t stop me". Kent police said they had interviewed Mr Farage and were investigating the incident.

It’s not the first time Mr Farage’s appearance has attracted protesters. He had to be locked inside an Edinburgh pub for his own safety last May after an 'anti-racism' protest against the Ukip leader turned ugly. However Mr Farage said this protest was worse than Edinburgh, claiming the group came “with intent to physically hurt me".

Thanet District Council Green councillor Ian Driver attended the protest and told the Kent Online: “There were 101 reasons to be there today - Ukip's appalling opinions on animal welfare and their plans to bring back hunting are old-fashioned positions to hold.

”Ukip are trying to stir up divisions between people and I think Thanet deserves better than their hatred, divisiveness and scapegoating.”

Mr Farage hit headlines on Monday after claiming that working mothers are “worth less” than men to employers in the City.

Mr Farage, who worked in the City for 20 years at a brokerage firm, said women who take time off to take care of their children become less “valuable” to employers, and therefore get paid less than men, because they are not as committed to their clients.

Speaking at an event in the City, he said: “In many, many cases, women make different choices in life to the ones that men make simply for biological reasons.

“If a woman has a client base and has a child and takes two or three years off work, she is worth far less to the employers when she comes back than when she goes away because her client cannot be stuck rigidly to her.”