He’s gone, now he’s back. After four days in the political wilderness, Nigel Farage has returned as leader of Ukip. In a slightly bizarre statement, the party’s chairman Steve Crowther said Farage was ‘persuaded by the NEC to withdraw his resignation and remains leader of Ukip.’ So what changed his mind, after promising to resign ‘within 10 minutes’ of defeat? Speaking to those with a knowledge of the situation, I understand that Farage was genuinely ready to give up the position and the result in South Thanet came as a relief. His campaign team believe they did everything possible to get him elected but it clearly wasn’t enough — or the limits of ‘Farageism’ have been reached. Either way, he was ready for a break.
But as Farage was preparing for a quiet summer holiday, Ukip’s money men began trying to persuade Farage to stay — including £1 million donor Arron Banks – pointing out that four million voters backed the party in the election, more than ever before. Plus, Ukip came second in tens of seats in the north, just as the leadership had hoped. Farage chewed over the possibility of staying on this weekend and the official statements kept all options open. His two most likely successors — Paul Nuttall and Suzanne Evans — both held back from pushing their leadership campaigns into the open, just in case Farage changed his mind. And so he did.
Plus, Farage concluded there was plenty on the horizon to keep Ukip in the limelight. The EU migrant crisis — Farage visited Brussels to address last week this — is a perfect topic for Ukip . Then there is the guarantee of an EU referendum by 2017, a fight which Farage will relish even if he won’t lead the ‘Out’ campaign. And finally there is his new hobby horse: electoral reform. Those close to the leadership say his position has been consistent on this topic and now he has a result to provoke Ukip’s activists into position. Although the party was clearly disappointed that it failed to break into Westminster, few in Ukip see this as the end of the road. In fact, some feel the party has more more opportunities than ever before. Nigel Farage is ready to seize that opportunity.
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