Ukip leadership election: Party risks split as Nigel Farage's 'natural successor' Steven Woolfe is barred from standing

Three NEC members quit in protest at what was described as a 'coup'

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Only six weeks after living the dream of taking Britain out of the European Union, Ukip has descended into civil war and could split into two parties supporting and opposing its outgoing leader Nigel Farage.

The latest faction fighting erupted after Steven Woolfe, seen as Mr Farage’s favoured successor, was barred from standing in the election to choose the party’s new leader. He submitted his nomination papers just 17 minutes late – giving Ukip’s national executive committee (NEC) the chance to knock him out of the contest.

Three NEC members quit in protest at what was described as a “coup” by senior figures who want to move on from the Farage era. Mr Farage may try to overturn the decision by halting the election and calling an emergency meeting of Ukip members, which might be asked to abolish the NEC. The decision might also be challenged in the courts.

There is growing speculation that Mr Farage and Arron Banks, a millionaire businessman who was backing Mr Woolfe, might break away from Ukip to form a new, internet-based party modelled on Italy’s Five Star Movement launched by the comedian Beppe Grillo. It is thought that about 10,000 of Ukip’s 50,000 members might join them.

There was astonishment inside Ukip that the latest in-fighting broke out just when the party ought to be savouring its success in the June referendum. “Our faction map is more complex than Syria’s,” one senior Ukip figure told The Independent. “We have more warring tribes.”

Steven Woolfe speaks at press conference before the EU referendum (AP)

Mr Farage has been at war with Paul Nuttall, the party’s deputy leader. Farage critics want to move the party to the centre ground, saying its best hope is to target Labour’s traditional working class voters now that its EU mission has been accomplished. Raheem Kassam, a former Farage aide, threatened “full-scale war” to “topple the Tory establishment that is trying to take over the party”.

Mr Woolfe is the second high-profile figure to be barred from the leadership contest. The action against him was seen as a revenge attack after Suzanne Evans, who favoured a more moderate approach, was suspended for criticising Mr Farage.

Mick McGough, Victoria Ayling and MEP Raymond Finch quit the NEC over the “deliberate obstruction” of Mr Woolfe’s nomination. They said the ruling body had “usurped full governance of the party” and is “collectively in pursuit of oligarchy, self-promotion and cronyism. Rather than acting as servants of the party, many on the NEC are acting as the owners. The factionalism has seen some of the party’s top talent and most loyal officers wilfully excluded.”

Mr McGough warned that Ukip “could be finished” and suggested that Douglas Carswell, the party’s solitary MP, and Ms Evans were behind the blocking of Mr Woolfe. “This is a fight for survival,” he said. “If we don’t get a competent leader who’s comfortable with the media, the party could be finished. It’s life or death now.”

Douglas Carswell is Ukip’s only MP (PA)

Mr Carswell insisted he was not part of any coup. Paul Oakden, Ukip’s chairman, denied the treatment of Mr Woolfe was petty and said the party’s rules had to be followed. “Will the party split? I hope not, I don’t think so,” he told BBC Radio 4.

An “extremely disappointed” Mr Woolfe said: “Over the course of this leadership election, the NEC has proven it is not fit for purpose and it confirmed many members’ fears that it is neither effective nor professional in the way it governs the party. They have failed to accept that there were serious issues with the application system despite providing evidence that attempts of submission were made before the deadline.”

Mr Woolfe admitted this week that he failed to declare a drink-driving conviction when he stood for a police and crime commissioner post in 2012.

New frontrunner Diane James, right, is an MEP and Ukip’s deputy chair (Getty)

The new frontrunner to become Ukip leader is Diane James, an MEP and the party’s deputy chair, who is a close ally of Mr Farage. He is thought to have urged her to enter the race at the last minute when it appeared likely that Mr Woolfe would be blocked.

Her nearest rival is likely to be Lisa Duffy, a councillor in Cambridgeshire. She has strong grassroots support and has been dubbed “Ukip’s Ruth Davidson” – the combative leader of the Scottish Tories.

The other candidates are Bill Etheridge, an MEP who was expelled by the Tories for posing with golliwog dolls to stimulate a debate about whether dolls were racist; Elizabeth Jones, a family lawyer and deputy chair of Ukip in Lambeth, London; Jonathan Arnott, an MEP and part-time maths teacher and Phillip Broughton, a semi-professional wrestler.

Mr Farage, who announced he was standing down after the June referendum, may not be out of the limelight for long. He has resigned before and returned – once after only a few days. There is already speculation that he might make another comeback if the party does not fare well in next May’s county council elections. “No one thinks we have seen the last of him,” said one Ukip source.