Ukip is 'done' after terrible local elections results, says most successful politician Douglas Carswell

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Ukip's job is done after it was completely wiped out in the local elections, according to its most successful MP.

"Job done", tweeted Douglas Carswell after it became clear that his old party had been completely devestated in the poll.

Mr Carswell joined Ukip in 2014, triggering a by-election that he later won. That and a win in the 2015 election made him by far Ukip's most successful politician.

But he then left the party in March 2017 to sit as an independent, leaving the party without any MPs at Westminster.

He has suggested that all Ukip supporters should do the same – leaving the party because after Brexit it has succeeded with its aims.

He repeatedly posted "job done" messages after Ukip lost all the seats that it was defending in the local elections. Most of Ukip's old voters appear to have moved back to the Conservatives after it backed Brexit.

"The Europeanism that possessed the upper echelons of the Tory party for 40 yrs today looks like an aberration," he wrote. "We won."

He went on to criticise those who claimed that Euroscepticism would split the right. "In fact it's united it," he wrote.

Ukip spokespeople have claimed that it will continue to be a force in politics because it still holds on to some older council seats. But some supporters and members including Welsh assembly member Neil Hamilton admitted that the party appeared to be finished.