London: Nigel Farage’s departure as UK Independence Party leader has plunged the party into disarray, causing it to lose its “mojo,” according to its most prominent donor, Arron Banks, who indicated he isn’t backing any of the current candidates to take up the mantle.
“We’re struggling at the moment, there’s no point in denying it,” Banks said on Wednesday in a BBC Radio interview. “Nigel was probably a dominant politician for the last 20 or 30 years and losing him has caused the pressure cooker to explode.”
Ukip is mired in a second leadership contest since the party helped spearhead victory in Britain’s June 23 referendum on leaving the European Union. The vote for Brexit has left the anti-EU party struggling for a raison d’etre, putting its future in doubt amid infighting.
“We’ve enjoyed giving the establishment a damn good thrashing: I don’t know if it’s over for Ukip,” said Banks, a businessman who announced a £1 million (Dh4.5 million or $1.2 million) donation to the party in 2014. “It’s certainly achieved its main goal in politics, which was to get the referendum and win it.”
Since Farage stepped down, Ukip has already had one leadership election, choosing Diane James to succeed him. She stepped down 18 days later, and the favourite to follow her, Steven Woolfe, then quit the party after being involved in a fracas at the European Parliament that left him hospitalised.
Four Candidates
Banks, who backed both, then threw his support behind a former Farage aide, Raheem Kassam, who pulled out on Monday, just days after formally launching his candidacy. That’s left four politicians vying for the top job: deputy leader Paul Nuttall, who is the favourite with bookmakers; Suzanne Evans, who wrote the party’s 2015 election manifesto; Peter Whittle, a member of the London Assembly; and John Rees-Evans.
“I’m struggling with the candidates on offer,” Banks said. Ukip has “got to be neither right nor left, it’s got to be radical and anti-establishment. My problem with all of the candidates at the moment is that they seemingly want to push it to the centre, which seems a ludicrous place for it to be.”
Asked about donating more money to the party, Banks said that “at the moment we have to see if it manages to stabilise itself and elect a credible leader.” Banks also suggested Farage may return to lead Ukip in the future, and that he wished its sole member of Parliament, Douglas Carswell, would return to the Conservative Party, from which he defected in 2014. Disarray in the main Labour opposition gives Ukip the chance to keep its relevance, he said.
“Ukip has got a marvellous opportunity with the Labour Party split almost in two,” Banks said. “It’s got a fabulous opportunity up north and I think it’s got to get its mojo back.”
