A former Mid-Wales MP could be set for a surprise return to politics with a run for office in one of Europe's most northerly countries.

Former Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament Lembit Opik says he is considering a run for president of the Baltic republic of Estonia, population 1.3million, where he has family ties.

Mr Opik was speaking after a visit to the capital Talinn, which was home to his grandfather, the astronomer Ernst Julius Opik.

"I have been asked to stand for the Estonian Presidency," he said.

"If called upon to serve my nation in such a way it would be my honour. It’s got to be the right time and it’s got to be what Estonia wants, but I’m interested in the possibility.

"My Dad was Estonian, my Mum is Estonian. I’m 100% Estonian by blood. I just happen to have been born in Northern Ireland."

Mr Opik, 53, says he is an Estonian speaker, a language which a report by the US State Department’s Foreign Service Institute as the fifth most difficult to learn in the world, but that he is 'only just good enough for interviews'.

He says he has no desire to return to British politics and spend "the next 10 years trying to work out the meaning of Brexit."

The Estonian parliament has 101 members and influences the governing of the state primarily by determining the income and the expenses of the state through establishing taxes and adopting the budget.

The President is elected by the Parliament as a ceremonial figurehead with no executive power.

Should it happen, the move would be the latest in a long list of headline-grabbing moves by the former MP who has appeared on 'I'm a celebrity, get me out of here!' and dated 'Cheeky girl' Gabriela Irimia between 2006 and 2008.

In 1998 Opik survived a near fatal paragliding accident after falling 80 feet onto a Montgomeryshire hill, breaking his back in 12 places, as well as his ribs, sternum and jaw. He later underwent a series of surgical procedures to correct the damage to the bones in his face.