Nigel Farage's leadership under scrutiny as Ukip descends into civil war

Nigel Farage is facing a fight to keep his position as Ukip leader ahead of the EU referendum as several senior party figures called for him to resign and two of his key advisers left their roles.

The party was gripped by rancorous infighting on Thursday just days after Farage reversed his decision to resign as leader in the aftermath of a humiliating election defeat in his target seat of South Thanet.

Two of the people closest to Farage, Raheem Kassam, the leader’s chief of staff, and Matthew Richardson, the party secretary, who have been blamed by senior party figures for taking the party in a “poisonous” hard-right direction in the runup to the general election, said they would stand down.

Kassam has been at Farage’s side throughout the campaign and spoke of “shock and awe” tactics that led the Ukip leader to warn about foreigners with HIV coming to the UK. He is leaving his role when his contract comes to an end, while Richardson has offered his resignation.

The Ukip leader’s problems then escalated on Thursday when Stuart Wheeler, a major donor, and Hugh Williams, a co-treasurer, said it was time for him to go.

But Farage’s position was shored up by the release of several supportive statements from other donors, including Richard Desmond, the Daily Express newspaper owner, and Arron Banks, a businessman. Desmond said: “Nigel has my support 101%.”

A source with knowledge of Ukip’s internal politics said the root of the battle for the heart of the party is about the role to be played by Farage in any EU referendum. Many Eurosceptics, including some within the Tories and Ukip, fear the prospect of Farage being the voice of the out campaign, because he is too controversial.

The departure of Farage’s aides appears to be a victory for Patrick O’Flynn, the party’s campaign director, who said the Ukip leader had turned into a “snarling, thin-skinned and aggressive” man during the election and warned of the party turning into a personality cult. He broke cover in an interview with the Times, in which he blamed failures in the party’s election campaign on Farage’s inner circle.

Speaking later to Sky News, O’Flynn said he supported Farage’s leadership but wanted to call time on advisers who had tried to take the party in an aggressive direction similar to that of the Tea Party movement in the US.

Kassam responded in a subsequent interview on the same channel, saying O’Flynn “ain’t seen nothing yet” when it comes to aggressive-style politics as he would be returning to a role as a journalist at the right-wing website Breitbart London.

“I will be scrutinising quite heavily what the Red Ukip team are trying to do to the organisation,” he said.

Kassam also called on O’Flynn to consider his position for being “utterly unprofessional” and suggested that the MEP had “some issues that he has to deal with”.

Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme on Friday, Kassam said he thought O’Flynn’s grievances should have been aired during the campaign period. “It strikes me as a little bit bizarrely opportune for this all to come out straight after the election.”

Commenting on Farage’s leadership of the party, Kassam said: “I don’t think anybody apart from Nigel has the wherewithal and the political nous to make snap decisions based on [the fact that the party only got one seat but 4m votes in the general election].”

O’Flynn insisted he was only calling for the resignation of the aides and a more “consultative” style of leadership from Farage. But it soon became clear there was also an attempted coup under way over Farage’s leadership.

Farage told the BBC’s Question Time he had the overwhelming backing of party members and leaving ahead of a referendum on the crucial issue of the EU would be wrong. “The level of support for me in the party is phenomenal and, frankly, to go through a leadership contest at a time when Cameron says he’s renegotiating our relationship with the European Union would be a massive, massive mistake,” he said.

O’Flynn’s comments were disappointing, but ultimately just “letting off steam and ... fighting personal wars” after a pressurised election campaign, Farage added.

Stuart Wheeler, who has given hundreds of thousands of pounds to the party, told BBC Radio 5 Live that it was “time for something quieter” in terms of the Ukip leadership. He said he thought Farage was exhausted, in pain from back problems and should have stayed resigned, at least until a new contest could be held in the autumn.

Wheeler said Farage was too aggressive and divisive as the party headed into the crucial period before the EU referendum, which would give Ukip the opportunity to campaign for its main aim of leaving.

Hugh Williams, the party’s treasurer, backed Wheeler, saying Farage was the “best political performer in this country, but there has to come a time – and I think that time is probably now – when he has to let the party stand on its own two feet.”
He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “There is a great danger it is seen as a Nigel Farage party rather than the UK Independence party.”

In a separate row, Douglas Carswell, the party’s only MP, is also in a standoff with Farage because the MP does not want to accept all of the £3.25m in “short money” – funding for its parliamentary activities – that is due to the party on account of its 3.9m votes.

The MP hit out at “excitable” aides to Farage, who suggested he should hire a huge parliamentary staff to use up the money. Farage then appeared to back down on his impasse with Carswell, saying on Thursday night on Question time that he would recommend the party accepted none of the public money.

Mark Reckless, the party’s former Rochester MP, declined to comment when asked by the Guardian if he backed Farage as leader.

Farage also received backing from long-time Ukip MEPs. Roger Helmer, the MEP who fought the Newark byelection, said: “Of course Nigel shouldn’t go. He’s the most substantial and respected figure in the party and he is absolutely the right person to fight the referendum campaign.”

William Dartmouth, another MEP, told a Channel 4 News producer that he also backed Farage, saying: “It’s Nigel’s party.”