UKIP MP Douglas Carswell called in after Nigel Farage says he should be kicked out
UKIP's only MP, Douglas Carswell, will meet the party's chairman to discuss Nigel Farage's call for him to be booted out.
Tuesday 28 February 2017 12:18, UK
UKIP leader Paul Nuttall has arranged a meeting with the party's only MP after Nigel Farage called for him to be kicked out.
In an extraordinary attack in his newspaper column, Mr Farage said there was no future for the party if Douglas Carswell remained in it.
The former UKIP leader accused the Clacton MP of trying to "split and divide UKIP in every way imaginable" since joining in 2014.
And he called on Mr Nuttall, under pressure to unite the party following his failure to win the Stoke-on-Trent by-election, to throw him out.
Writing in today's Daily Telegraph, Mr Farage said: "As a party, how can we let a men represent us in the House of Commons who actively and transparently seeks to damage us? I think there is little future for UKIP with him staying inside this party. The time for him to go is now."
The relationship between Mr Farage and Mr Carswell has been acrimonious almost from the moment Mr Carswell left the Conservatives to join UKIP.
Hostilities have escalated in recent days in the wake of emails which suggest Mr Carswell frustrated efforts to secure a knighthood for Mr Farage.
In an exchange with the UKIP peer Lord Pearson, Mr Carswell indicated he had made some attempts to help but then he joked Mr Farage should get an OBE for "services to headline writers".
In his column, Mr Farage claimed the email exchanges showed Mr Carswell was "consumed with jealousy and a desire to hurt me".
Mr Nuttall has asked UKIP's party chairman Paul Oakden to meet Mr Carswell on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the issue. However, it is understood not to be a disciplinary meeting.
Speaking in response to Mr Farage's comments, Mr Carswell said: "I'm delighted where I am. I'm trying to double the size of the UKIP Parliamentary Party at the moment. Unfortunately we didn't manage to do that in Stoke.
"But if he wants to come and talk to the UKIP Parliamentary Party about any concerns he has, (we're) very happy to respond.
"It won't take long, it's just me."
UKIP has struggled to maintain unity since Mr Farage stepped down as leader last year. His intervention suggests he retains significant control over party affairs.
In an interview with Sky News ahead of the Stoke-on-Trent by-election last week, the party's biggest donor, Arron Banks, said UKIP needed to be radical and .
He has since said he will stand against Mr Carswell in Clacton at the next election.