Farage farce: He’s back just three days after he quit!
NIGEL Farage returned as the leader of Ukip yesterday – just three days after quitting.
Mr Farage had promised to step down if he failed to win the seat of South Thanet – which he duly did.
Nevertheless, he has now announced he will remain in charge of Ukip after the party’s national executive committee rejected his resignation.
A senior Ukip figure said Mr Farage was making a mistake. ‘We owe him an enormous debt, he’s been heroic and inspirational, but the key part of Nigel’s brand is that he is straighttalking and he does what he says he is going to do,’ they added.
‘If he starts being evasive on this he’s just another politician. He just needs
‘He really needs to take a break’
to take a break, he really does.’ Last night Ukip’s only MP, Douglas Carswell, repeatedly refused to answer when asked if he would quit the party following the ‘un-resignation’. Mr Farage had insisted throughout the General Election campaign he would stand down if his election bid failed.
In his autobiography The Purple Revolution, published in March, he said: ‘What credibility would Ukip have in the Commons if ... the party leader was only allowed in as a guest?
‘If I fail to win South Thanet, it is curtains for me. I will have to step down.’
The day before polls opened he said the contest – his seventh attempt to become an MP – would be ‘the final countdown’. He resigned on Friday, saying he was a ‘man of my word’ and felt a ‘weight lifted off my shoulders’.
Mr Farage recommended that Suzanne Evans, Ukip’s deputy chairman, take over as acting leader before a leadership contest in September. But yesterday Ukip chairman Steve Crowther said the NEC had unanimously rejected Mr Farage’s resignation in light of an excellent election campaign.
‘As promised, Nigel Farage tendered his official resignation,’ he said. ‘This offer was unanimously rejected by the NEC members, who produced overwhelmingly evidence that the Ukip membership did not want Nigel to go.’
Last night Mr Farage – who also stood down as leader in 2009 – claimed he had been ‘reluctant’ to remain in the post but changed his mind after being told the party’s membership was in support.
In an article for the Telegraph, he wrote: ‘I decided that as much as I had earned my holidays ... that I owed it to the party that got me here.
‘I’m sure many people will have their opinions on the matter. All I can say is that I’m ready for the challenges ahead. The fight starts here.’
Miss Evans tweeted: ‘Very pleased Nigel Farage is still at the helm. As stated previously, I tried to persuade him to stay and was never actually appointed leader!’