Farage resigns from Ukip ‘with heavy heart’

Nigel Farage has announced he is quitting Ukip. The former leader said he had made the decision because he was uncomfortable with the direction the party had taken in recent months.

Mr Farage had previously called for Ukip leader Gerard Batten to be ousted after he appointed English Defence League (EDL) founder Tommy Robinson as an adviser.

Writing in a national newspaper, Mr Farage said: “With a heavy heart, and after all my years of devotion to the party, I am leaving Ukip.

“There is a huge space for a Brexit party in British politics, but it won’t be filled by Ukip.”

Mr Farage insisted Ukip had been successful in the past because it had a policy of “excluding extremists”, but said it was becoming a party of “street activism”.

Mr Farage said: “Under my leadership of Ukip, the party banned former members of the BNP and EDL from joining. Many accusations of 0 Nigel Farage had called for the current leader to be ousted

racism and extremism were thrown at us, but I strongly maintain they were untrue.

“Under Gerard Batten’s leadership, however, the party’s direction has changed fundamentally. Analysis of weekly local council byelections up and down the country shows that Ukip now fields very few candidates.

“Worse still, many of our very best organisers and activists on the ground have resigned their positions.”

Mr Batten tweeted: “I have always given him[mr Farage] full credit for his work in Ukip bringing about and winning the referendum. However, I feel that he left Ukip in spirit after the referendum.”