UKIP founder: Party is a ‘cult’ under Nigel Farage, won’t win a single seat
The founder of the UK Independence Party has spoken out again against his own former party – and predicted it will not win a seat in May’s elections.
Alan Sked – a professor at LSE – founded the party in 1993 from the Anti-Federalist League, and led it until 1997 – but recently claimed it is now motivated by homophobia and racism.
The former politician has again decried the intolerance in the party, condemning Nigel Farage’s defence of former candidate Kerry Smith, who ranted about “f**king disgusting old poofters”.
Dr Sked told the Independent: “Once Farage took over the party became more and more right wing.
“Now party members are making all sorts of embarrassing statements about blacks, Chinese, Islam or something else.
“The party is a cult controlled directly by Farage. Anyone who criticises him gets thrown out or bumped off the National Executive Committee because he can’t take criticism.”
He also claimed that the party could fail to gain a single seat in May’s elections, saying: ““My great whinge about UKIP is not just their racism and their lurch to the far-right but to lots of people in the country they are simply toxic and wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.
“If Farage dominates and monopolises the UK campaign then he will sink it, because there are lots of people who might be anti-EU but wouldn’t vote UKIP.
“Given the first past the post system, if they win 15 per cent nationwide Ukip will not get a single seat because you need at least 20 per cent to get in”.
A UKIP spokesperson said: “Surely Alan Sked should be spending his time enjoying the immense success UKIP has enjoyed, driving the EU referendum debate among other things rather than sitting on the sidelines carping about how well the party he founded, but was never able to grow, is doing.”
