UKIP Infighting Beyond Parody

As if the descent into farce by Nigel “Thirsty” Farage and his fellow saloon bar propper-uppers by UKIP had not gone far enough, the last 48 hours has shown anyone who still thought the party had any remaining credibility that matters are well beyond that stage. The Kippers have given inhabitants of the real world the clearest indication yet that they are not fit to be called a political party - assuming they ever were in the first place.

Squeaky credibility finger up the bum time

The spark that reignited the UKIP bonfire of the vanities was an apparently innocuous discussion on the BBC’s Daily Politics over the EU referendum and who might lead the No campaign. The Kippers’ deputy chair Suzanne Evans, who wrote the party’s General Election manifesto and is widely seen as the party’s more human face, conceded that Mr Thirsty was perceived by others as being a divisive figure.

“I think Nigel is a very divisive character in terms of the way he is perceived … He is not divisive as a person but the way he is perceived in having strong views that divide people” she told, adding that “‘somebody else’ would front the out campaign in the in/out referendum, promised by 2017, but that Mr Farage should play a ‘significant part’”. The retaliation was as swift as it was decisive.

A “directive” was issued, apparently from UKIP HQ, telling “From this moment onwards, no-one employed by the UKIP press office is to have any further contact with [Suzanne Evans] … No bids are to be accepted for SE and she is not to be offered as an official UKIP spokesman … No one is to brief SE or advise her on any issue”. Ms Evans had, in true totalitarian tradition, become an Un-Person.

Then a yet more bizarre event took place, or, rather, it did not: former Farage sidekick Raheem “call me Ray” Kassam was to have appeared on Daily Politics to discuss the situation at Kipper HQ, but decided against it. This is totally out of character: Kassam is a media whore who would not normally turn down any opportunity for the shameless promotion of Himself Personally Now. And then the situation went beyond farcical.

Suzanne Evans was become Lazarus! “Suzanne Evans 'unsacked' as Ukip media spokesperson … Party says leaked email that ordered deputy chair to be barried from press appearances after describing Farage as divisive was unauthorised” told the Guardian. The Mirror agreed: “Ukip 'unsack' Suzanne Evans after cutting ties over comments about Nigel Farage”. Why might this have happened?

Kassam denies any involvement. Rumours have circulated that Farage faced a rift with his sole MP Douglas “Kamikaze” Carswell, and maybe the rest of his MEPs - and there are a lot more of them. Perhaps it was, as they are wont to say in God’s Own County, “The Ale Talking”. Whatever the reality, UKIP is, for the moment, finished as a credible electoral force. And its increasingly wayward front man is running out of road.

As with all dictatorships through history, it all comes down to The Increasingly Messy End.