Nigel Farage denies being too divisive to lead Brexit campaign
Nigel Farage today denied he is too divisive a political figure to lead the campaign to leave the EU, despite the ongoing civil war within his own party.
"We're all divisive. Who isn't divisive in politics?" he told Politics.co.uk
"You know Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are very divisive with old Labour voters in Rotherham. This is the problem. We're all looking at this the wrong way. There are lots of different segments of the British population that have got to be spoken to by different messengers."
The Ukip leader spoke to Politics.co.uk as his Grassroots Out (Go) campaign handed in their application to be the officially designated Brexit campaign.
If Go are successful, they will be awarded public funding and the rights for political broadcasts and paid leaflet drops.
However, Go's application comes as Farage battles an ongoing leadership crisis within his party. One of Ukip's most well-known figures, Suzanne Evans, has been suspended for "disloyalty" to the party. Meanwhile, Ukip's only MP, Douglas Carswell, is reportedly under threat of suspension after backing the rival Brexit campaign Vote Leave. Farage told a meeting earlier this month that he didn't care whether Carswell left the party because he's "irrelevant".
'Labour Go' bus arrives at the Electoral Commission
The Ukip leader today suggested that Carswell could "go home" if he refused to support the Go campaign if it wins the designation.
Asked whether Carswell and others would fall in line, he replied: "That's up to them, isn't it? What else are they going to do: Go Home?"
He claimed that relations between Go and Vote Leave had improved, however.
"Since the cabinet ministers have got involved, there has been a change in relationship between us and Vote Leave because they are being grown up and sensible about it. One or two people before weren't being."
