15/05/2015
Now it's
Patrick O'Flynn' s turn to denounce The Great Leader, claiming that Nigel Farage has become a "snarling, thin-skinned, aggressive" man who is making Ukip look like a "personality cult".
O'Flynn is wrong only in one respect. Farage has not suddenly become a "snarling, thin-skinned, aggressive" man. He has always been like that. It's just taken O'Flynn a little time to realise it, before coming to same conclusion that so many have reached before him.
One may recall
Will Gilpin back in August 2013, who observed that Ukip was a chaotic and disorganised party built around Mr Farage's personality and whims. "The thing I am most shocked by is that Nigel does his own thing without the party knowing where he is or what he is doing", he said at the time.
Many before and since have made critical observations, not least former researcher
John Petley who I found writing in 2009 of Farage's propensity to "rant" at staff. Then he was saying that, "Farage's dealings with me bear the marks of a tyrant". Said Petley: "⦠he tries to destroy anyone who opposes him. The party is now in the grip of man who I can only describe as evil".
Driven to resign the party in 2011,
he wrote a personal letter to Farage, telling him that he was "more of a liability to Ukip than an asset, and today you are a hindrance", referring to him having "driven many talented people away from Ukip".
In the list Petley offered, I am named, and I have shared Petley's criticisms. But then what do I know? I just sat across a desk from him over a period of four years, poured him into taxis when he was so drunk he could hardly stand, stayed at his family home, and worked with him on running and expanding the party's effort.
Then, according to my critics, what I say doesn't count. I
am motivated entirely by a "grudge" against Farage, they say â except to be smeared in this way is the fate of anyone who dares criticise The Great Leader and his cult.
"He tries to destroy anyone who opposes him", says Petley. At the very least, you are subject to a barrage of smear, innuendo and denigration, which the cult members gleefully take up and repeat at every opportunity. So it has been for me for over a decade, while Farage has progressively built the party up as a platform for his own ego, only now to be instrumental in destroying it.
Along the way, he has fooled a lot of people who should have known better, taken in by his "boyish charm" and his apparent openness. Only now we have O'Flynn saying that Farage has in recent months moved away from being a "cheerful, ebullient, cheeky, daring" politician, blaming his team of "aggressive" and "inexperienced" aides.
But then, that has always been the case. It is only in public that Farage is the "cheeky chappie" politician, and to those who he favours or wants to influence. Now O'Flynn - like so many before him - has seen the dark side. And as for the "aides", it has always been Farage's style to surround himself with sycophants and to get rid of anyone who he thinks might represent a challenge to him.
So, Ukip has come out of a bruising election, where under the "tyrannical" leadership of Farage it has managed to halve its parliamentary representation from two to one. Now we confront the prospect of a referendum â whence the party is
embroiled in a civil war, taking itself out of the game. The
Guardian, amongst others, is revelling in the dispute, and it now seems open season for Ukip-baiting.
The thing is that, despite the legacy media falling for the hype - with that fool Matt Goodwin
leading the charge, claiming
in March that Ukip had four seats "already in the bag" â all of this was
predicable and predicted. Anyone who knew from the inside how rotten and corrupt Ukip really was, and how devoid of substance and depth Farage was, also knew that this had to end in tears.
The terrible thing here is that the members who joined Ukip as a means of getting us out of the EU have been betrayed. The good news is that, before the referendum campaign has started in earnest, Ukip is being so discredited that it will have a minimal voice in the campaign. Its ability to to damage the cause will thereby be limited.
But had people actually listened to me and the growing army of critics - who have been pointing out for so long that things are not well in Ukip - this current train-wreck could perhaps have been avoided. We actually wanted Ukip to succeed, but knew it could not do so with Farage at the helm.
Now it has come to pass and, as the song goes, it can only get worse. Not until Ukip is rid of Farage can things perhaps start to get better, just supposing the party is not beyond reform.
