Ukip civil war as Farage demands £3m windfall
UKIP was on the brink of civil war last night after its only MP attacked a plan to accept £3.3million of public money.
Douglas Carswell said taking the full £650,000-a-year parliamentary funding it is entitled to after winning nearly 3.9million votes would be to ‘jump on the gravy train’.
Ukip officials are understood to have drawn up plans to hire 15 members of staff at Westminster using the ‘short money’ paid to opposition par- ties by Commons authorities to help with their parliamentary work.
A furious Mr Carswell last night publicly denounced the proposal and warned he would not back down, saying: ‘Ukip is supposed to be different and will be different.’
A source close to Mr Farage hit back and accused Mr Carswell of ‘absurd’ and ‘improper’ behaviour. However, senior party figures last night broke ranks and appeared to defy the Ukip leader by rallying around Mr Carswell.
The stand-off developed as Mr Farage’s position at the top of the party looked increasingly precarious. Leading figures unhappy with his so-called ‘unresignation’ are considering their next moves in efforts to oust him. Opposition parties are eligible for ‘short money’ if they have secured either two seats or more than 150,000 votes at a general election.
Having gained nearly 3.9million votes, Ukip is eligible to £663,474-a-year, which amounts to £3.3million through the five-year-term of parliament.
Mr Carswell, who joined Ukip after defecting from the Tories last year, is said to have rejected plans presented to him by the party’s general secretary to use the money on employing staff.
Instead he said the party should accept only £350,000.
The Clacton MP told the Mail: ‘For goodness sake, I am not an American senator. I do not need 15 staff. We’re not in Brussels now. Ukip needs to understand that public money should not be sloshed around.
‘We cannot look the voters in the eye if we spend money just because it is there. There are people in my constituency who scrimp and save £7.50 to get a taxi to and from the GP surgery.
‘How can I possibly look them in the eye and say I’ve got an office and spend the best part of a million pounds. It is not going to happen.
‘Ukip is supposed to be different and Ukip will be different. We are not going to join in just because the money is there. This is going to be done properly and correctly. There will be no compromise. Absolutely none. It will be done correctly.’
The party last night angrily reacted to Mr Carswell’s defiance. The BBC reported that ‘a senior Ukip official close to Nigel Farage accused the MP of “absurd” and “improper” behaviour.’
A senior party staffer added: ‘This is him throwing his toys out of the pram because he thought Nigel wouldn’t be leader any more.’
But the briefings sparked a rebellion from other figures. Election campaign chief Patrick O’Flynn wrote on Twitter: ‘Those briefing against @DouglasCarswell must stop.
‘He is a man of integrity and honour and that is to be respected.’
The party’s immigration spokesman Steven Woolfe said: ‘Whoever is briefing against @DouglasCarswell does not have Ukip’s best interests at heart. Idea he would do anything “improper” is absurd.’
Mr Farage yesterday defended his Uturn on his decision to resign as Ukip leader. On Friday in the wake of his humiliating defeat he said he would stand by his promise to stand down but, on Monday, he said that he had been persuaded to change his mind by the party’s national executive.
In a further U-turn, Mr Farage yesterday said that he intended to try again to become an MP.
Last week he suggested South Thanet – his seventh attempt to get into Parliament – would be his last, but yesterday a spokesman said when the first ‘right by-election seat’ comes up ‘he will go for it’.
‘A man of integrity and honour’