'Wrong Un' Farage Aide 'Sacked' By UKIP

Nigel Farage's top adviser has been "sacked" after he was accused of helping to turn the UKIP leader into a "snarling, thin-skinned and aggressive man".

An extraordinary day of infighting has ended with chief of staff Raheem Kassam leaving his post - while party secretary Matthew Richardson has also offered his resignation.

It comes after UKIP election chief Patrick O'Flynn told Sky News that Mr Farage was being advised by "wrong uns".

Just a few hours later a party spokesman said Mr Kassam "no longer works for UKIP" - and Sky's Darren McCaffrey confirmed he had "essentially been sacked".

But in an exclusive interview with Sky News, Mr Kassam said his contract had been due to expire anyway and "any aspersions that I've been fired are incorrect".

He called Mr O'Flynn's behaviour "utterly unprofessional" and said he should "absolutely consider his position".

The row began when Mr O'Flynn, the MEP who led the party's election campaign, told The Times that Mr Farage is no longer the "cheerful, ebullient, cheeky and daring" politician he is portrayed to be.

Mr O'Flynn claimed his leader - who failed to win a seat in Parliament at the election - is transforming UKIP into a "personality cult".

He described the events of recent days - which saw Mr Farage's offer to resign rejected by UKIP's national executive - as a "fiasco".

But he later told Sky News: "If anyone thinks that I am planning some kind of coup against Nigel they could not be more wrong. He is my political hero and will remain so.

"He has done an amazing thing, I have been a loyal supporter of his leadership all the way along but ... a couple of people in his inner circle ... For want of a better term, they are wrong uns.

"They are trying to influence in a direction which is neither productive for UKIP or for the general campaign to get Britain out of the EU. That should be the number one objective as UKIP members."

He added that the advisers want to take UKIP "in a direction of some hard right ultra-aggressive American Tea Party movement".

Mr Kassam later changed his Twitter biography to "wrong un" before confirming his departure.

Meanwhile, UKIP donor Stuart Wheeler backed calls for Mr Farage to stand down as leader.

When asked about the situation this morning, Mr Farage said: "If the NEC (national executive committee) back me what am I to do?"

Other rows are also rumbling within UKIP.

On Tuesday, Douglas Carswell, the party's only MP, claimed that senior officials had been pressurising him to accept the £650,000 of taxpayers' money his office is entitled to per year.

The Short Money, which amounts to £3.5m over the course of five years, consists of the £16,700 a party receives for every seat gained .

Parties can also claim £33.33 for every 200 votes they win nationwide. UKIP secured almost 3.9 million votes last Thursday.

However, the former Conservative, who believes in smaller, less expensive governments, said he would be unable to "look pensioners in the eye" if he used the cash to hire 15 staffers like his colleagues had suggested.