Nigel Farage 'facing a coup' over Ukip leadership

Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, is facing a “coup? after the party’s treasurer and one of its biggest donors called for a leadership contest.

Stuart Wheeler, who has given hundreds of thousands of pounds to the party, said he would like to see Farage stand aside and face a vote. The Ukip leader briefly stepped down after failing to win his South Thanet target seat but then withdrew his resignation four days later, saying the national executive had overwhelmingly wanted him to stay.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Wheeler said 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 remained 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.?

Festering tensions at the heart of the party broke into the open after Patrick O’Flynn, the party’s campaign director, said Farage had turned into a “snarling, thin-skinned and aggressive? man during the election and warned of it turning into a personality cult.

He broke cover in an interview with the Times (paywall), in which he blamed failures in the party’s election campaign on Farage’s closest aides. Speaking later to Sky News, O’Flynn said he supported Farage’s leadership but wanted to call time on “poisonous? advisers who had tried to take the party in a hard-right, aggressive, direction similar to the Tea Party movement in the US.

But a senior Ukip source said he had no doubt that a coup was under way, despite O’Flynn’s claims of loyalty. The source also claimed the deputy chairman, Suzanne Evans, as well as the party’s only MP, Douglas Carswell, and much of the Ukip press office in London appeared to be working together to undermine Farage.

Carswell is also in a standoff with Farage because the MP does not want to accept all of the £3.5m 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.

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

O’Flynn refused to name the people he wanted out of the leader’s team but it is understood that he and Carswell are gunning for Raheem Kassam, Farage’s senior personal adviser, who is understood to be out of the country at the moment, and Matthew Richardson, the party secretary. O’Flynn is understood to hold them responsible for the American-style attack politics adopted by the party during the election that may have alienated more moderate voters. Richardson is reported to have offered his resignation.

The election campaign was marked by a bitter division between the party’s Mayfair HQ and those who were in the tight-knit inner court of Farage – Kassam, Christopher Bruni-Lowe and a former BBC journalist, Sarah White – who accompanied him on visits and were at his side throughout the campaign. Those who stayed at HQ included most of the party’s press office, as well as O’Flynn and Evans, who gave London-based media conferences.

Speaking on Sky News, O’Flynn said the advisers around Farage “have an awful lot to answer for. There are a couple of people around him who I won’t name who are influencing him in the wrong direction.

“They have been given far too much influence, far too much sway, and have treated certain very loyal party staffers absolutely abysmally. Someone needs to call time on them. Those are the people I have an issue with, in terms of their conduct and advice. I am a loyal supporter of Farage’s leadership. I just want to get it back to how it was before this group came to prominence.

“Some people around him would like to take Ukip in the direction of some hard-right, ultra aggressive American Tea Party-type movement. Ukip will prosper and has prospered when it positions itself in the common-sense centre of British politics.

“When Nigel Farage leads it from the centre or right of centre … people who want to get rid of the National Health Service or liberalise gun laws or whatever other US imports they want to peddle for their own agenda should set up a party to push that line and see how they get on.?

Farage had been expected to leave as party leader after failing to win his South Thanet seat but he returned just four days later, after Ukip’s chairman said the national executive had begged him to stay.

O’Flynn could have been a leadership contender, along with Evans, and deputy leader Paul Nuttall. There were a variety of briefings against O’Flynn on Thursday, with the Spectator reporting that one aide said he had “personal problems?.

Throughout the increasingly bitter public spat, Farage has remained largely silent but he briefly told reporters it was not his fault that the NEC unanimously backed him to remain leader.

He is scheduled to appear on the BBC’s Question Time on Thursday night. Ukip donors are due to have a meeting with him on Friday.

One of the party’s other biggest donors, Arron Banks, firmly backed Farage.

“The truth is that Carswell got 25,000 votes but Nigel got 4m. The rank and file members know that. Nigel got 99.6% of the total votes to Carswell’s 0.4%,? he told the FT. “Patrick needs to look at himself before he goes around criticising others. They should let Nigel have a holiday after a long hard election rather than plotting a coup d’état.?

Farage also received backing from long-time Ukip MEPs. Roger Helmer, the MEP who fought the Newark byelection, told the Guardian: “There has been some unfortunate briefing of the press on issues that should have been resolved privately but I don’t think there’s any substantial consequence although one or two of the two people might have to consider their positions. I’m referring to staff,
not to members.

“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. He is the dominant person in the party and huge numbers of party members and activists contacted the NEC to call for him to stay.?

Asked about the calls for Farage to go from Wheeler and Williams, he said: “People like to see their names in headlines but 98% of the party is fully behind Nigel.?

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