Ukip’s only MP calls for Farage to step down
No vote to break up UK on my watch, says Cameron
UKIP’S sole MP last night called on Nigel Farage to step down as leader.
In a stinging critique, Douglas Carswell warned him he had struck the wrong tone during the election campaign and needed ‘to take a break’.
Mr Farage yesterday ordered his critics to swear loyalty to him or leave Ukip: ‘Better put up, shut up or go.’
But his attempt to reassert his authority backfired as Mr Carswell spoke out.
The Clacton MP, who joined Ukip after defecting from the Tories last year, criticised Mr Farage’s comments during the televised leadership debates when he condemned the treatment of foreign-born HIV sufferers by the NHS.
He urged Mr Farage to step back so the party could properly assess what went wrong during its election campaign so that it does not just become an ‘also-ran’.
Mr Farage yesterday said he was prepared to become more ‘autocratic’ in his bid to cling on to power, as he warned there was ‘one senior figure in Ukip’ who was ‘agitating for a change and for a leadership election’.
He refused to name the figure, but it was widely believed to be Mr Carswell.
The pair held crisis talks yesterday afternoon in a bid to resolve their differences but last night Mr Carswell chose to come out against his leader.
Mr Farage’s position has been precarious since he dramatically withdrew his resignation as leader on Monday, just three days after he announced he would step down. The move drew ridicule and anger, plunging the party into civil war as figures publicly traded insults and a major donor joined calls for Mr Farage to go. His authority has been severely weakened and he was forced to ditch two of his closest advisers in a bid to appease his critics.
It also emerged that Mr Farage never actually resigned as party leader. After defeat in
‘Drew ridicule
and anger’
South Thanet last Friday he said he would be ‘writing to the Ukip national executive in a few minutes’ to stand down.
But yesterday it was revealed that he had never given them a resignation letter.
In a challenge to Mr Carswell, Mr Farage yesterday said: ‘There is one person ... agitating for a change and for a leadership election. He hasn’t had the courage to break cover, but he must make his mind up. Is his future with Ukip or not?’
But within hours, Mr Carswell called for him to stand down.
He told the Mail: ‘We all need a break, I need a break, everyone needs a break. We’ve just fought an election, everyone just needs to take a break.’
He insisted that he did not want to become Ukip leader.
‘Elections are enormously stressful,’ he told the Times. ‘The immediate aftermath is not the time to take big decisions about the future. It takes a team to get the answers right.’
In response to Mr Carswell’s comments about Mr Farage needing a break, a Ukip spokesman said last night that the leader would take a summer holiday in due course.
DAVID Cameron has slapped down SNP threats of an ‘illegal referendum’ in his first visit to Scotland since the Nationalists’ General Election landslide.
The Prime Minister, who met Nicola Sturgeon at Bute House yesterday, said he was open to the possibility of further powers, but warned that the Smith Commission proposals must be implemented first. In a series of rebukes for the SNP he:
Vowed to hold Alex Salmond to his ‘once in generation’ promise and block a second independence referendum.
Rejected full fiscal autonomy, saying Scotland needs the UK’s financial might following the oil price crash.
Refused Miss Sturgeon’s request for a Scotland veto in the promised in-out EU referendum by the end of 2017.
Warned that the Smith Commission must be put into law before extra powers are discussed.
Mr Cameron described the meeting with Miss Sturgeon as ‘very positive’ and confirmed that a Scotland Bill containing all the Smith Commission’s recommenda-
‘Constructive and
business-like’
tions would be in his Queen’s Speech. The Prime Minister claimed Alex Salmond was the source of reports that the SNP would hold an ‘illegal’ second referendum if he refused one, and unilaterally declare independence if a majority voted Yes.
The Prime Minister said: ‘I don’t think this is remotely on the cards. I tend to take at face value what Alex Salmond says on the record, rather than off the record, and on the record he said this was a once in a generation, potentially once in a lifetime, opportunity and I’m sticking with that.’
Miss Sturgeon has said Nationalist MPs would try to attach ‘full fiscal autonomy’ to the Scotland Bill enacting the Smith proposals.
But Mr Cameron said: ‘I want (Scottish) people to know that the whole of the UK stands behind your pension, stands behind your unemployment benefit, if Scotland has a difficult year, if the oil price goes down – that’s what I believe in, the solidarity union. Full fiscal auton- omy is not a good option, it would land Scottish taxpayers with £7billion of extra taxes, or the Scottish people with £7billion of extra cuts.’
In a thinly-veiled threat, he added: ‘I think it’s good that those people who want full fiscal autonomy will have to put forward proposals that everyone can scrutinise.’
Miss Sturgeon has said that the Prime Minister must build on his devolution offer, which she called a ‘starting point’. Earlier this week, she demanded employment policy, the minimum wage, welfare, business taxes, national insurance and equality policy, going far beyond the post-referendum Smith Commission agreement.
Mr Cameron said: ‘ The First Minister wants to send some proposals. I’m quite happy to look at proposals. I don’t rule out making other changes if sensible suggestions are made.’
Miss Sturgeon has said that a second referendum could be triggered if the UK votes to leave the EU and a majority of Scots back staying in.
She described the hour- l ong meeting as ‘ constructive and business-like’.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘Two things of significance were agreed. Firstly, there was a commitment from the Prime Minister that the legislation that they will shortly introduce to the Westminster parliament to implement the proposals of the Smith Commission will implement those proposals in full. Secondly, I have said we will put forward proposals for devolution further than the Smith Commission. The Prime Minister has said he would consider those proposals.
‘I am not going to put words in his mouth and say he has agreed to specific proposals, but there is an agreement to look at that and there will be a meeting with the Deputy First Minister and the Secretary of State for Scotland to take that discussion forward.’