Ukip’s show of unity unravels as infighting continues

SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT THE UK Independence Party’s attempts to re-unite after its bitter leadership contest were thrown into disarray yesterday when Nigel Farage launched a broadside at the party’s only MP.

Mr Farage, who resigned as party leader after the Brexit referendum, accused Douglas Carswell of trying to split Ukip and suggested the party would be better off if he left.

Mr Farage’s comments threatened to undermine efforts by Diane James, his newly elected successor, to move on from the controversies and infighting that have dogged Ukip since last year’s general election.

Before her election on Friday, Ms James and Mr Carswell had not spoken to each other for three months.

Yesterday, they attempted to put on a united front. The pair took to the stage in the finals hours of a conference dominated by more squabbling, shaking hands and smiling for the cameras.

The animosity between Mr Farage and Mr Carswell, who defected to Ukip from the Conservatives, has been an open wound in the party.

The MP insisted that he would not quit Ukip after Mr Farage accused him of doing “all that he can to split the party” and suggesting that he needed to “make a big decision” about his future.

Mr Farage used his LBC radio show to accuse Mr Carswell of “sniping from the sidelines” and said his actions had given the “impression of division”.

The former leader admitted that the party has been “breaking down” behind the scenes but said he had been “biting my tongue” since the general election because he wanted to focus on winning the referendum.

The MP for Clacton “really isn’t doing anything for us” and must now decide if he supports the party’s aims, Mr Farage said.

“Is he going to go on sniping from the sidelines?”, he said. “It’s no good for Ukip, and... looking at him – and he doesn’t look very happy – I can’t believe it’s very good for him either.”

Mr Farage said “some quite big surgery” was needed to get Ukip back into shape.

However, Ms James tried to move on with a public reconciliation on Saturday.

She told activists at the conference in Bournemouth that it was her “absolute pleasure” to welcome Mr Carswell to the stage, praising his “courageous” decision to defect from the Conservatives. “I’m not interested in what has gone on beforehand,” the new Ukip leader said.

For his part, Mr Carswell said he supported Ms James “110 per cent” and described her victory speech as “wonderful”. He said: “The membership has spoken and it has made a clear choice. We must now all rally behind Diane.”

Mr Carswell, the first member of Ukip to be directly elected to Parliament, was given just a five-minute slot to speak on the final day of the party’s conference.

He is one of several highprofile figures in Ukip who have been frozen out by the Farage wing of the party.

Within an hour of her leadership victory, Ms James decided to wipe Neil Hamilton from the conference agenda.

Mr Hamilton, who only found out about the purge after being told by reporters, said it was a “rather bizarre way” to unite a party.