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Nigel Farage calls for Douglas Carswell to be expelled from Ukip Nigel Farage calls for Douglas Carswell to be expelled from Ukip
(about 9 hours later)
Ukip’s only MP, Douglas Carswell, must be thrown out of the party immediately because he is actively trying to damage it, Nigel Farage has said. Ukip’s only MP, Douglas Carswell, should be thrown out of the party immediately because he is actively trying to damage it, Nigel Farage has said.
The party’s former leader stepped up his attacks on Carswell as a row intensified over claims about the Clacton MP’s role in blocking an honour for Farage. Farage has accused the MP for Clacton, with whom he has a long-running feud, of trying to block attempts to organise a peerage for him after leaked emails revealed Carswell had joked Farage should instead be given an OBE for “services to headline writers”.
Leaked emails show Carswell joked that Farage should be given an OBE “for services to headline writers”. Former Ukip leader Malcolm Pearson initially attempted to organise a peerage for Farage but then switched to lobby instead for a knighthood when it became apparent he would have had to quit as an MEP in order to take up any seat in the Lords. After the bid was rejected he asked Carswell to approach the chief whip, Gavin Williamson, to appeal against the decision.
Farage insisted the exchanges reveal his Ukip colleague is “consumed with jealousy and a desire to hurt me” and called on the current leader, Paul Nuttall, to expel him. In an email from 31 December leaked to the Telegraph, Carswell wrote to the peer: “As promised, I did speak to the government chief whip. Perhaps we might try angling to get Nigel an OBE next time round? For services to headline writers? An MBE, maybe? Let’s discuss.”
Carswell, however, said the emails showed “quite clearly I tried my best to make sure he got an honour that reflects his contribution”. He told the Press Association: “If he wants to come and talk to the Ukip parliamentary party about it, we are happy to put it on the agenda for Monday’s meeting. Farage insisted the exchanges reveal his Ukip colleague was “consumed with jealousy and a desire to hurt me” and called on the current leader, Paul Nuttall, to expel him.
Carswell, who defected from the Conservatives in 2014, said the emails showed “quite clearly I tried my best to make sure he got an honour that reflects his contribution”. He told the Press Association: “If he wants to come and talk to the Ukip parliamentary party about it, we are happy to put it on the agenda for Monday’s meeting.
“I’m delighted where I am. I’m trying to double the size of the Ukip parliamentary party at the moment. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to do that in Stoke. But if he wants to come and talk to the Ukip parliamentary party about any concerns he has, very happy to respond. It won’t take long, it’s just me.”“I’m delighted where I am. I’m trying to double the size of the Ukip parliamentary party at the moment. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to do that in Stoke. But if he wants to come and talk to the Ukip parliamentary party about any concerns he has, very happy to respond. It won’t take long, it’s just me.”
The former Ukip leader Malcolm Pearson attempted to organise a peerage for Farage but lobbied instead for a knighthood when it became apparent he would have had to quit as an MEP. After the bid was rejected he asked Carswell to approach the chief whip, Gavin Williamson, to appeal against the decision. Carswell also tweeted a smiling emoji after the leaked emails were published on Monday night.
On 31 December, Carswell wrote in an email to the peer: “As promised, I did speak to the government chief whip. Perhaps we might try angling to get Nigel an OBE next time round? For services to headline writers? An MBE, maybe? Let’s discuss …” Knight night. 😎
Farage enthusiastically unveiled Carswell as a Tory defector to the party in 2014 but soon after became increasingly critical of the MP. Writing in the Daily Telegraph on Monday, Farage said: “As a party, how can we let a man represent us in the House of Commons who actively and transparently seeks to damage us? Writing in the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday , Farage said Carswell had actively distanced himself from both the leadership and the party’s policy on immigration as early as February 2015.
“I think there is little future for Ukip with him staying inside this party. The time for him to go is now.” Farage said after the general election, when he had failed to win the seat of Thanet South and briefly resigned as Ukip leader, Carswell had demanded repeated assurances that Farage would play no key role in the upcoming EU referendum.
“From that moment on, Carswell has sought to split and divide Ukip in every way imaginable,” he said. “Since the general election he has brought nothing to the party at all other than constant division, at times I believe deliberately stirred up to cause maximum damage to the party.”
Farage said the feud was becoming a distraction, saying Ukip “can no longer hold a party conference without a ‘Carswell/Ukip split’ story”.
He continued: “As a party, how can we let a man represent us in the House of Commons who actively and transparently seeks to damage us? I think there is little future for Ukip with him staying inside this party. The time for him to go is now.”
Ukip donor Arron Banks, who recently threatened to withdraw support for the party unless he was made chairman, tweeted his own criticism of Carswell on Monday night:
He represents himself and no one else. A terrible individual that's done his best to destroy UKIP. https://t.co/xRs52BVtHe
Banks wrote to the current Ukip leader, Paul Nuttall, in the wake of his defeat in the Stoke Central byelection last week, saying he wanted to transform Ukip into a “efficient, professional and ultimately electable party”.
In an earlier article for the Sunday Express, Banks said the party was being “run like a jumble sale ... If Nuttall doesn’t professionalise it and toss out the likes of Douglas Carswell and the rest of the Tory cabal then the party is finished anyway.”
In his letter to Nuttall, Banks said he would appoint a new chief executive to oversee “a total rebrand of the party” with the aim of recruiting 100,000 members within 18 months.
As well as appointing new staff and professional election agents, Banks said one key part of his strategy would be to re-engage Farage in the party. “He is our biggest asset and needs to become engaged with the party once again and work with you to deliver Ukip MPs,” he said.