UKIP rows deepen as Farage calls for only MP to leave
ROME: Bright lava lit up the night sky on the Italian island of Sicily on Monday as Mount Etna erupted for the first time this year.
The volcano, one of the most active in the world, has been largely dormant for the last two years, but it sprung to life with bright orange lava spewing out high over the Mediterranean Island, eventually easing off by Tuesday morning.
Catania airport, situated within 50 km of the volcano, remained open, but authorities were tracking the movements of the ash cloud.
Etna, at 3,330 metres, is the LONDON: Bitter tensions in Britain’s anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) turned into open war on Tuesday as founder Nigel Farage called for its only member of parliament to quit.
Farage said Douglas Carswell “actively and transparently seeks to damage us”, writing in the rightwing Daily Telegraph: “The time for him to go is now.”
A key force behind Britain’s vote to leave the EU last year, the party has been struggling for months with infighting and has failed to find a winning platform beyond its core message of euroscepticism and opposition to mass immigration.
A long-standing feud between highest volcano in mainland Europe and can burst into action several times a year.
The last major eruption was in 1992. Farage and Carswell came to a head following UKIP’s defeat in a byelection that had been viewed as the party’s best hope to win a second MP.
Tensions increased over Farage’s failed bid to obtain a knighthood for his role in the June referendum vote to leave the European Union.
Emails leaked to the Telegraph show Carswell mocked Farage’s chances of receiving the honour, saying he should get an award for “services to headline writers”.
Farage told the paper that the former Conservative MP had not been supportive, adding: “He is consumed by jealousy and a desire to hurt both UKIP and me.”
The row comes after UKIP donor Arron Banks accused the party at the weekend of being run “like a jumble sale” under new leader Paul Nuttall and threatened to set up a rival movement if it did not shape up.
The Brexit vote was a success for UKIP but raised questions about the party’s relevance after Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May promised a clean break with the EU.