Your mole got a shock this morning when crawling out of the burrow to hear the news that Nigel Farage was once again Ukip leader. It was almost as if the Brexit vote never happened.
The unexpected resignation of his successor Diane James after just 18 days in the job, has thrown the party into chaos and put “good ‘ol Nigel” back in the hot seat. At least until a new leader can be chosen.
The MEP is becoming something akin to a political Rasputin — somehow all attempts to remove him from the political arena end in failure. “I keep trying to escape… but before I am finally free they drag me back, so yes I will continue as interim leader,” Farage told the BBC.
He defended James’s decision to quit the role suggesting that family health problems and a recognition that your private life is “finished” when you become party leader might have been influencing factors. James was reportedly upset by a recent incident at Waterloo Station when she was spat at on a train platform.
“It’s not a great day, but it’s not the end of the world for the party,” Farage said. “After all, we are hardly unique to this, Labour have had two leadership elections in the space of a year and there are many who think this morning that Ukip without a leader is more electable than Labour with one.”
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