Following the ruling from Ukip’s national executive committee that Steven Woolfe is not eligible to run for leader, a fresh bout of civil war has broken out in the party. The party’s top financier Arron Banks has — as James predicted — suggested that the party could now split. Meanwhile three Ukip councillors have immediately resigned from the NEC, declaring the committee ‘not fit for purpose’. This is the same sentiment expressed by Nigel Farage in a Breitbart article this week when he described its officials as ‘total amateurs’.
Woolfe has released a statement in which he expresses his deep disappointment at the decision. In this, he too says that the NEC is not fit for purpose:
‘I am extremely disappointed by the UKIP NEC decision to exclude me from the party’s leadership election.
Having been a committed member of UKIP, standing for the party in multiple elections, acting as a spokesman at the highest level, I wanted to take this opportunity to stand for Leader to inject my ideas, plans and passion into the party.
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