Advertisement

Farage Urges UKIP To Put 'Country Before Party'

Nigel Farage has called on UKIP to "put country before party" and dedicate itself to securing a "No" vote in the upcoming referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.

The UKIP leader told activists they had a once in a lifetime opportunity to get the country back.

Mr Farage said an exit from the EU was "dearer to my heart" than UKIP, and urged party members to put all of their energy into fighting the "no" campaign ahead of the vote, which is due to be held before the end of 2017.

He told the party's annual conference in Doncaster: "I have to say to you, as the leader of this party, as somebody who has given over 20 years of his life to helping build this party, while of course I want us to do well as a party and succeed in those elections there is something that is actually dearer to my heart than party politics, even if it's UKIP.

"I want us to summon every resource of energy that we can find in our bodies and our minds, I want us to dedicate ourselves wholly to winning that referendum."

He added: "This is the moment to put country before party.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get back the independence and self-government of this nation.

"Our message is clear, we want our country back."

On the subject of migration, Mr Farage said he had warned that EU policy would lead to an exodus of "biblical proportions", but no one listened to him.

He said the EU's "appalling mishandling" of the crisis would mean Britain would not vote to join the union today if it had the choice.

Mr Farage attacked "soft eurosceptics" who are waiting for David Cameron to finish renegotiating the UK's EU membership before deciding how to campaign.

He said this was a foolish course of action because the Prime Minister is not asking for anything substantial such as border control, freedom from European court rulings or a reduction in the EU membership fee.

Despite high hopes within the party before the recent General Election, UKIP managed to win only one seat.

Mr Farage himself came up short in his bid to become an MP, losing out in Thanet South.

But he said the party could be proud of what it achieved at the ballot box, taking "big chunks" out of the Labour party on the way to gaining almost four million votes.

Mr Farage then turned his attentions to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who he earlier described in a Sky News interview as a "gift" for UKIP.

He said Mr Corbyn's policies now mean that a "whole new flank of the Labour vote in the Midlands, in the North and Wales and right across this country" is now open to UKIP.