Nigel Farage discussed fronting far-right group led by Steve Bannon

Nigel Farage discussed the idea of fronting a global alliance of populist and far-right politicians being put together by the controversial former White House strategist Steve Bannon, it has emerged.

Farage said he would be keen to take the role after Bannon discussed the idea of forming a group based around populism and “economic nationalism”, with potential members including Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines leader who is accused of presiding over mass rights abuses and who has admitted authorising extrajudicial killings.

In discussions spanning 2017 and last year, the Brexit party leader also discussed the concept in detail with Mischaël Modrikamen, a far-right Belgian politician who worked with Farage in Brussels.

The idea later became an initiative called the Movement, a Brussels-based foundation led by Bannon for rightwing populist parties.

Bannon had claimed the operation would provide campaign help for like-minded parties in the European elections. But the Movement foundered after a Guardian investigation revealed the operation could be illegal in most of the countries in which he planned to intervene.

The initial planning talks, which occurred in Washington DC and London, were filmed for The Brink, a fly-on-the-wall documentary about Bannon by the US film-maker Alison Klayman premiering in the UK in July.

Excerpts from the footage that are not included in the film, but show Farage and Bannon in discussion, have been shared with the Guardian. They are likely to raise further questions about Farage’s link to Bannon, who helped mastermind Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016.

In one clip, they discussed arrangements for a private meeting at the Ritz between Bannon and Frederick Barclay, the co-owner of the hotel and the Telegraph newspapers. Farage told Bannon to use a special side entrance at the hotel, stressing it was a “very very private way of doing things”.

“This is proper wealth,” he added. “And you’ll literally be in, have a meeting, and be out without anyone even knowing you’ve been there.”

In another discussion, Farage shared with Bannon his worries about Boris Johnson as a potential prime minister, saying he liked the former foreign secretary, but that he “gives the appearance of struggling to concentrate for very long on anything”.

In the original pitch about the populist movement, during a meeting at Bannon’s Washington DC headquarters in October 2017, Bannon told Farage he would be “the perfect guy” to front it.

“We help knit together this populist nationalist movement throughout the world,” Bannon told him. “So we’ve got guys, cause guys in Egypt are coming to me, Modi’s guys in India, Duterte, you know, and we get Orbán, and we are somehow some sort of convening authority.”

Farage responded by saying: “Conceptually I like it,” calling the plan “the fightback against the globalists”, but indicated finding the time to do it could be difficult.

Another section of Klayman’s footage shows a discussion involving Farage and Bannon, as well as Modrikamen, the founder of the far-right People’s party in Belgium, who later became heavily involved in the Movement. Farage told the trio how the mooted populist network could begin as “a clearing house for ideas” and then help fledgling parties with issues such as funding and polls.

Sources close to both men said Farage, who has had a sometimes fractious relationship with European counterparts such as Marine Le Pen in France, ultimately chose to keep the Movement at arm’s length.

However, the footage illustrates Farage’s close links to populist and far-right parties whose policies and priorities could seem notably different from the more inclusive image he has tried to project for the Brexit party, which is leading in polls for Thursday’s European elections.

He and Bannon have been in regular communication in recent weeks, but Farage told the Guardian that while Trump’s former strategist “texts all the time”, he is “not an adviser”.

The footage also captured Farage giving a somewhat unguarded verdict on Johnson – someone with whom he might have to work if Johnson succeeds Theresa May and then the Brexit party takes Westminster seats in a general election.

At the Washington meeting in 2017, Farage praised Johnson as “a great guy”, but expressed doubts about his ability to be prime minister.

“It’s just that, he sort of, he gives the appearance of struggling to concentrate for very long on anything,” Farage said, adding: “He doesn’t have a big political philosophy. He’s a bit like a butterfly: ‘Oh look; there’s a lovely flower over there!’”

In contrast, Farage told Bannon about his admiration for Jacob Rees-Mogg, admiringly calling the Tory Brexiter “a Thatcherite” and “the only guy in conservatism who genuinely wants to free up the regulations on small business”.

Bannon seemed slightly less familiar with Conservative MPs, initially calling Rees-Mogg “Nicholas whatever the guy” and referring to the ex-Brexit secretary David Davis as “Dan Davis”.

Nigel Farage has been approached for comment.

The Brink will be released in the UK on 12 July.