Ukip civil war: O’Flynn apologises and steps down

Mr O’Flynn stood down after saying in a newspaper interview that Farage had become a “snarling, thin-skinned and aggressive” man. Those comments came amid controversy as Farage stayed leader, despite promising to stand down if – as eventually transpired – he failed to be elected as an MP.

The fallout saw a short-lived civil war within Ukip, with two officials leaving the party. Farage faced calls to stand down from a major party donor, and he himself attacked an unnamed rival – presumed to be the party’s only MP, Douglas Carswell.

Speaking on Tuesday, O’Flynn, who will remain a Ukip MEP, said he felt “sincere regret” for giving the interview to the Times. Addressing a meeting of MEPs, he said: “I would like to express to colleagues my sincere regret at going public with my frustrations about the turn of events following polling day.”

‘Snarling, thin-skinned and aggressive’

He continued: “And more than that, I would like to apologise directly to Nigel for the phrase ‘snarling, thin-skinned and aggressive’.”

He said that those comments were part of a “wider passage about perceptions and is not what I think of him”. However, the former journalist acknowledged that he should have known that the “unfair and unkind” phrases he used would be widely reported and would cause controversy.

O’Flynn said that, after the party’s executive rejected Farage’s resignation, Ukip was at risk of being turned into a “personality cult” and said there were “a couple of advisers who are pushing Nigel in the wrong direction, both in terms of policy and style of leadership”.

Later, Carswell urged Farage to “take a break” after a campaign that saw the party secure more than 12 per cent of the national vote share but end up with only one Commons seat.

He also criticised Mr Farage’s “ill-advised” decision to raise concerns about immigrants coming to Britain for free treatment for HIV, saying Ukip had not been striking the right tone.

Both O’Flynn and Carswell were accused by Farage’s former chief of staff Raheem Kassam, one of those who departed at the height of the row, of bringing the party into “national disrepute”.

‘Sadness’

In his resignation statement, O’Flynn said: “I am proud of what we achieved in the general election and am only sorry to have succumbed, as Roger (Helmer) put it with such impressive understatement, to public remarks that were ‘unhelpful’.

“I think it appropriate to stand down as economic spokesman, which I have done. I hope in the months ahead to be of use to the great campaign to persuade the British people to leave the EU, which is after all what brought me into politics in the first place.”

In response, Farage said: “Patrick O’Flynn came in person to tell me he had realised that he had made a mistake and, being the honourable man that he is, tendered his resignation as Ukip economics spokesman.

“I accepted his resignation with some sadness, not least because he is very able and has been a great asset to the team.”