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Ukip's only MP could be sacked by Monday, says party leader Nigel Farage

When asked if Douglas Carswell would be expelled from Ukip following an ongoing row, Mr Farage said: “That will be up to the NEC to decide”

Rachael Pells
Friday 01 July 2016 13:21 EDT
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Ukip's only MP could be sacked by Monday, says party leader Nigel Farage

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Ukip’s only MP could soon be booted out of the party, Ukip leader Nigel Farage has suggested.

Speaking about Douglas Carswell on LBC radio, Mr Farage said: “What would he know?”

”We find somebody inside our party who doesn't agree with anything the party stands for, it's a very odd state of affairs.“

The comments came in response to an attack on the party leader launched by Mr Carswell over Ukip’s controversial “Breaking Point” posters, which depicted large queues of refugees attempting to get into Europe.

Mr Carswell, a member of the official Vote Leave campaign, said he believed it was a “fundamentally wrong thing to do” on Mr Farage’s behalf.

"Angry nativism does not win elections in this country", he added.

When asked on air by Iain Dale if Mr Carswell should return to the Conservative Party, Mr Farage said he wouldn't get involved with "any of this... I don't micro-manage the thing.”

"I do the politics, I don't do the man-management, but it is a very odd state of affairs," he said.

“Why would you join a party like Ukip, with me as the leader, with our policies and manifesto, and then from almost day one of joining, disagree with everything we say or do? I find it really, really odd.”

Nigel Farage: "European Parliament is in denial"

Asked if Mr Carswell would be expelled from Ukip as a consequence, he said: “That will be up to the NEC to decide”.

Mr Carswell told The Independent it was the first he’d heard of it.

During an emergency meeting of the EU Parliament to discuss Brexit on Tuesday, Mr Farage was jeered and booed by MEPs.

During a highly-charged session, Mr Farage told the MEPs: “The reason you are so upset, the reason you are so angry, has been perfectly clear from all the angry exchanges this morning: you are in denial.”

“”You are in denial over Mrs Merkel's call last year for as many people as possible to cross the Mediterranean into the European Union, which has led to massive divisions between countries and within countries.”

“But the biggest problem you have got... is that you have, by stealth, by deception, without ever telling the truth to the British or the rest of the peoples of Europe, you have imposed upon them a political union.”

Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, told the Ukip leader: “Finally we will be getting rid of the biggest waste in the EU budget – that we have paid for 17 years of your salary.”

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