There is no evidence that Nigel Farage voluntarily resigned from UKIP, but there is a great deal that the upsurgent party’s own version of Jean-Claude Juncker was fired by UKIP’s NEC.
Before the surprise second and actual resignation, Mr. Farage gave no indication that he planned to leave the party. Instead he was actively reiterating his threat to sack Douglas Carswell, using UKIP’s NEC to do it.
In the past, UKIP’s NEC have acted like Mr. Farage’s terrified puppets, sacking Suzanne Evans, the party chairman, for supporting the party’s only MP. And not without reason, as Mr. Farage is reported to have a tendency to shove out of the limelight anybody who may compete with him.
Contrary to post-referendum spin, Farage did not ‘lead Brexit’ and in point of fact lost the designation battle, with his Leave.EU group being bested by Carswell’s Vote Leave. Suzanne Evans sat on the board of Vote Leave and therefore helped deliver the victory.
The Brexit referendum was won despite Farage – not because of him. Without his execrable ‘Breaking Point’ poster, which senior Leave.EU sources despaired of to me, the Leave side would have won by a ten point margin.
Sources indicate that Arron Banks and others in the Leave.EU camp were, by the end, well aware of Farage’s toxicity and sat on him heavily to prevent TV appearances. Farage canceled a last-minute appearance on Channel Four’s national debate on the eve of the Brexit referendum.
But after the vote, Farage was just as unimpressive as he was before it. Firstly, he announced a concession speech as soon as the polls closed, giving the impression of loss and chaos. Leave.EU’s polling was accurate and it had Brexit winning; the official Vote Leave campaign had good reports from counts less than 90 minutes out of close of poll.
Farage then appeared to drink heavily and dominated the news coverage on the morning after the vote, when campaigners who had done the actual work, like Dan Hannan MEP, were sleeping.
Knowing how toxic to the Brexit cause Farage was, the Remainstream Media could not get enough of him. Correctly assuming that he depressed the Brexit vote, the BBC and ITV stuck him on TV at every turn.
Vote Leave, noting that Farage had lost the designation, took ITV to court, more to scare the BBC off repeating the trick than anything. Remain would now use Farage to tarnish the win, and continued to book him on anything they could manage.
In all of this, Mr. Farage gave no sign that he was even thinking of stepping down to “spend more time with his family”. As ever, revenge was on his mind.
Farage made it clear that on Monday, July 4th, he intended to have UKIP’s only MP, Douglas Carswell, expelled from the party. Putting himself before his party had become routine.
Carswell brought democratic legitimacy to UKIP, having been elected as a UKIP MP; Farage had tried a record-breaking eight times and lost every time. He had un-resigned in a farcical scandal. He had fired a hugely popular Chairman. Now he was apparently prepared to lose UKIP’s voice in Parliament and with it the “short money” to which the party was entitled – all to salvage his own alcohol-soaked ego.
Nigel Farage: Douglas Carswell could be kicked out of Ukip by Monday https://t.co/TW6pE7I3po pic.twitter.com/h4I4VvJO9i
— LBC (@LBC) July 1, 2016
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LISTEN Farage: Carswell Could Be Expelled Monday [AUDIO] https://t.co/kKJ3Zc3W3N pic.twitter.com/BUWnNKkbPb
— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) July 1, 2016
Indeed, on July 1st Farage was throwing his weight about, incensed at being shut out of Brussels negotiations by the victorious Vote Leave:
The news comes as Mr Farage strongly hinted that Ukip’s only MP Douglas Carswell could be kicked out of the party on Monday.
He told LBC radio that Mr Carswell “doesn’t agree with anything the party stands for” and said it would be up to the NEC to decide “on Monday”.
Mr Carswell, who is on UKIP’s NEC, said he had received the agenda for Monday’s meeting and had not noted any move against him.
“Normally in political parties if you want to kick someone out there tends to be a procedure. Up until five minutes ago [when alerted to Mr Farage’s comments by the media] I was not aware of anything,” he told The Independent.
He added that he was not aware of any disciplinary action against him, and said he would enjoy a restful weekend celebrating Britain’s vote for Brexit.
The NEC duly met. And at the end of it, not only had Douglas Carswell not been sacked, Nigel Farage had “resigned” to “spend more time with his family”.
Furthermore, Farage’s lieutenant Steven Crowther had also “resigned”. I postulate that Crowther too was asked to go.
There were signs for the ardent UKIP-watcher. Farage had failed in his attempts to bar Neil Hamilton and Mark Reckless for standing for UKIP in the Welsh Assembly elections.
@stvharry Nigel Farage did not want him but was outvoted by NEC
— linda smith (@adakeld) May 24, 2016
Both were duly elected as AMs. Hamilton wound up on the NEC, with Carswell, and revenge was sweet:
@johnharris1969 Not convinced by this. Hamilton was causing Farage big headaches in Wales, Carswell elsewhere. They'll fight for supremacy
— Sunny Hundal (@sunny_hundal) July 4, 2016
The excuse was likely that Farage had threatened Carswell by saying that the NEC would do his bidding before they met:
@PurplePatriot_ No. Farage's position is untenable. He is the one who went on national radio and said what the NEC would do before they met.
— Thomas Evans (@ThomasEvansGB) July 3, 2016
Douglas Carswell tweeted a smiling face and was hilariously deadpan on the BBC as he said he often does so, as he is “optimistic”.
Today was day #Farage implied @DouglasCarswell would be expelled & media reported NEC would abolish itself. Instead Farage and Crowther out
— Richard Hilton (@RichardHilton1) July 4, 2016
Chairman of #UKIP Steve Crowther tells me there is no motion at today's NEC to expel @DouglasCarswell from the party
— Simon Dedman (@SiDedman) July 4, 2016
Crowther also had to go:
Crowther has resigned. https://t.co/6vJxxiHQT8
— Byron Sanford (@ByronSanford) July 5, 2016
So, Nigel Farage appears to have been unceremoniously “sacked” from UKIP – “jumping before he was pushed”. And without Farage, UKIP are now able to grow and threaten Labour.
