It’s full on civil war at UKIP.
At the same time that Nigel Farage was waltzing off to the US to snuggle up to Donald Trump, and become the ‘face’ of UK politics for Fox News (despite never being elected a Member of Parliament), his beloved UK Independence Party has been imploding in the most public fashion.
Fresh from their defeat in the Stoke by-election, UKIP are reeling from the kind of in-fighting and backstabbing you’d expect from an EastEnders Christmas special – or perhaps the Leicester City boardroom.
Losing to the much maligned Labour Party in Stoke meant new leader Paul Nuttall (who invented the light bulb and ran the first one-minute mile) could not become the party’s second ever MP. That would have made ousting their current (sole) Westminster representative far less troublesome.
Douglas Carswell, the right honourable member for Clacton, is hardly Mr Popular amongst some of his own party colleagues – not least his former leader. Farage is unhappy with Carswell’s not-extreme-enough attitudes towards Brexit and immigration, amongst other things.
(But it has nothing to do with Carswell reportedly blocking poor Nigel’s hopes of a knighthood – perish the thought…)
With UKIP donor Arron Banks threatening to stand against Carswell in the next general election, Farage was on the offensive this week, branding Carswell a “Tory Party posh boy” whom his party could do without…
VIDEO @Nigel_Farage describes @DouglasCarswell as "Tory Party posh boy" who "doesn't like to discuss immigration" @itvanglia pic.twitter.com/nok4SpHn1D
— Emma Hutchinson (@ITVEmmaH) February 28, 2017
Many have found his comments somewhat hypocritical for a whole host of reasons. The ‘posh boy’ and ‘dinner party’ references have come under particular scrutiny…
Farage's associates include a diamond miner and the president of the United States and yet he's *still* pushing his man-of-the-people spiel.
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) February 28, 2017
"Watcha, cock. Got any jellied eels? I'm off down the dogs later on, isn't it?" pic.twitter.com/9gCLhgy6n0
— David (@PermaConfused) February 28, 2017
https://twitter.com/BW400CN/status/836596997205417984
https://twitter.com/VeryAngryHobbit/status/836588935413436416
https://twitter.com/Medebourne/status/836611262041706497
I rather admire Mr Farage's total lack of self-awareness when he derides others for being 'posh'. Must make life easier to be so nescient.
— Terence Dackombe (@SirTerence) March 1, 2017
But the lowkey hero of the short clip is the chap to Farage’s left, whose comedy expressions and breaking of the fourth wall to camera says it all. The UKIP war of words continues…
Nigel Farage, former City trader and Dulwich College alumni, calls Douglas Carswell a "Tory party posh boy." pic.twitter.com/Jl8vYUOi1y
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) February 28, 2017
