UKIP is in 'hell of a mess', says party donor Arron Banks
Arron Banks says the party needs to sort itself out, as he does not rule out the return of former leader Nigel Farage.
Wednesday 2 November 2016 12:46, UK
UKIP is in a "hell of a mess", according to the party's biggest donor Arron Banks.
Mr Banks said it was a poor state of affairs to have a party where one leadership candidate won the contest but stepped down and another was involved in an alleged punch-up.
He told Sky's All Out Politics programme he could not support any of the candidates in the latest contest, although he tipped Paul Nuttal to win, and did not completely rule out the return of Nigel Farage.
Mr Banks, who co-founded Leave.EU, said: "I think at the moment I am not going to deny UKIP's in a hell of a mess. I think the Labour Party is in a hell of a mess.
"I think that the whole referendum process apart from the Tories, who are naturally ruthless sharks and took advantage of it, the other parties are in a fair degree of trouble."
However, he added it was too early to "write UKIP off as an anti-establishment party" because it still had work to do.
Since the Brexit vote, the party has seen Mr Farage quit as leader and Diane James elected as his replacement - only to step down 18 days later.
Steven Woolfe then emerged as the favoured leadership candidate, but he quit the party after a dust-up in the European Parliament building with fellow UKIP MEP Mike Hookem.
The latest leadership race looks likely to come down to a straight fight between Suzanne Evans and Mr Nuttall, and Mr Banks said he thought the latter would emerge triumphant.
He said that while he liked the former deputy leader of the party, he was not sure he was the man to tackle the problems facing UKIP.
Mr Banks said that Mr Farage had said he would return to lead the party but "only if Mrs May flunked Brexit" and while he said he thought a comeback unlikely "you can never tell."