Entrepreneur Dyson is not a 'household name' says former Ukip official Raheem Kassam

Vacuum cleaner entrepreneur Sir James Dyson could should not lead the campaign to leave the European Union because he is not a “household name”, a former Ukip advisor has said.

Raheem Kassam, who left his advisor position in Ukip last month, said Mr Farage should lead the referendum campaign instead.

“The Hannan-Carswell contention that a ‘business person’ such as Sir James Dyson should lead the ‘Out’ campaign is a joke,” Mr Kassam wrote in the Spectator magazine.

“Labour voters in Sunderland, or Liverpool, or Sheffield, don’t even own a Dyson vacuum cleaner, let alone being on first name terms with the company’s billionaire founder,”

Mr Kassam later tweeted that he was concerned about the “anonymity of Sir James Dyson as a household name”.

By contrast Mr Farage had the “effortless ability to empathise with people from all walks of life” and was a “household name”, he said, adding: “This is precisely why Nigel should take a front seat position in the referendum campaign.”

Sir James founded the Dyson household goods engineering company, which is named after him.

There have been suggestions by some prominent eurosceptics that Sir James should lead the 'out' campaign for the EU referendum because of his business credential.

Founded in 1993 the inventor's firm had revenue of over £6bn in 2013 and employs over 4,500 people.

Mr Kassam left his job at Ukip last month after a row over Mr Farage's leadership and a series of anonymous briefings by Ukip colleagues against each other.

David Cameron has pledged to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union by 2017.