Farage calls for expulsion of UKIP’s only MP
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Another lively day at the office for the UK Independence party.
On Tuesday the party’s former leader Nigel Farage called for its only MP, Douglas Carswell, to be kicked out for working against the collective interest.
Emails published by the Daily Telegraph suggest that Mr Carswell was not in favour of Mr Farage receiving a knighthood.
Mr Farage told reporters that he had wanted to sack Mr Carswell in 2015, but had been unable to do so. He said that the MP, originally a defector from the Conservatives, was making it impossible for Ukip’s new leader, Paul Nuttall, to establish his grip over the party.
Separately, Arron Banks – the insurance millionaire who is one of Ukip’s major funders – said he would stand against Mr Carswell at the next election. Mr Farage advised against taking that promise “too seriously”.
On Twitter, Mr Carswell suggested that Ukip was a “basket case”.
Ukip failed to win the Stoke Central by-election last week, meaning it is still limited to one seat in the House of Commons. Mr Farage ended one set of interviews by declaring that Ukip was in almost as bad a state as the Labour party.
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