Mr Farage re-opened tensions today, using his LBC show to accuse the Clacton MP of “sniping from the sidelines” and questioning his commitment to the new leader.
Advertisement
Speaking from the party conference in Bournemouth, he welcomed the election of Ms James, an MEP for the South East region.
The governing center-right Conservative Party, under its new leader May, “now appears committed to delivering Brexit while also offering policies that have always been advocated by UKIP”, such as introducing more selective schools, said Goodwin.
Divisions in the party were exposed late on Friday afternoon after it emerged that its assembly leader, Neil Hamilton, had been dropped from the agenda.
“And clearly, if there are people who have been set aside for those changes then we either have to accept it, or we don’t accept it and we run away, take our ball and start crying over spilt milk”.
“I think Nigel eventually just threw his hands up and went ‘Well, what’s the point?'”. Is he going to support Diane James, is he going to support the party’s aims.
“Is he going to go on sniping from the sidelines?”, he said. “I think there should be a law against it”.
“The threats to the referendum outcome are increasing by the day”, she told around 1,000 delegates at the party’s annual conference in the southern English coastal town of Bournemouth.
“It was absolutely wonderful”, he said. We must now all rally behind Diane’.
An ally of Farage defected to the Conservatives on the eve of the conference, saying that Prime Minister Theresa May had delivered key elements of the UKIP manifesto since taking office in July and that droves of UKIP supporters were doing the same.
Mr Farage said it had seemed an “amazingly good idea” to go for the midnight splash but insisted it “wasn’t skinny-dipping”.
That’s what independence means and that’s what independence in UK Independence Party means.
Many UKIP members have been exposed to have extremist homophobic, biphobic and transphobic views.
James has risen to the top of the party from her position as deputy chair.
Ms James secured almost half the votes in the contest after going up against four other hopefuls.
James said UKIP was a “winning machine” but warned the party had only won a “heat” in the race to leave the European Union and the exit document was not yet signed.
Mr Hamilton, who only found out about the so-called purge after being told by reporters, said it was a “rather freaky way” to unite a party.
Despite claims by Ukip financial backer Arron Banks that they got naked, Farage said his modesty remained intact.
“I’m going to be engaged in political life without leading a political party”.
Advertisement
“UKIP’s future is unclear”, said Matthew Goodwin, an expert on the party at the University of Nottingham.
