NIGEL Farage decided against going for a pint after he cast his vote yesterday morning.

The Ukip leader left his local polling station, closely followed by a group of photographers, and said that he would not be popping into the nearby pub, the Old Jail.

The UK's most devil-may-care politician was not put off by the thought of the fun that would be had by picture caption writers, the kind of issue that makes other political leaders very nervous.

"If it was a bit later, I would," he joked. "It's bit early for me."

But the Ukip leader will not be able to kick back and relax yet, as he spends this weekend awaiting the results of the most important election of his political life.

A quirk of the European election process means that no results will be announced until the final polls close across the continent, at 10pm on Sunday.

A good result could trigger the political "earthquake" the outspoken politician predicted.

North of the border it would have less seismic ramifications than in Downing Street - although Ukip sneaking the last of Scotland's six MEP seats could lead to awkward questions for Alex Salmond about whether Scotland and England are really moving as far apart politically as the First Minister has claimed.

But David Cameron will take little comfort. In recent weeks his aides have been insisting that he will not have a "breakdown" over Europe if the arch eurosceptics top the poll in England.

But that decision may not lie in his hands as much as Tory voters and MPs. Already some are preparing. "When in the last 20 years have we not been fighting about Europe in the Tory party?", a senior Tory backbencher said.

There will be repercussions for the other parties as well.

The Liberal Democrats are set to do very badly, not only in the European elections but in local elections across England as well.

The party took a large gamble when it challenged Mr Farage to a series of TV debates.

Aides insisted that it did not matter if Nick Clegg lost - the debates would allow the LibDem leader to set out his stall to voters who for years have refused to listen to him.

As a strategy, it had merits. However, if it appears to have failed then serious questions remain about what the LibDems can do to turn around their fortunes, with less than a year until the next general election.

Meanwhile, for Labour there are grumblings among MPs that the party had not done enough to deal with the Ukip threat in its north of England heartlands.