07/07/2014
A one-time UKIP leader, we are told, has been selected as the Conservatives candidate for the Kent seat of Thanet South. This is Craig Mackinlay, who is to fight the seat at the general election, when the current Conservative MP, Laura Sandys, stands down.
A more pointed snub could hardly have been arranged: Craig was once a key party figure and a close associate and supporter of Farage. He was stop-gap leader in 1997 before Michael Holmes took the helm, becoming deputy leader between 1997 and 2000.
The move is being seen as a direct challenge to Farage, who is said to be considering contesting the seat. He actually stood for it in 2005, when he took 2,079 votes, coming fourth.
More likely, surrounded by his latest batch of supporters, Farage will hardly notice the slight. He may nevertheless look elsewhere for his next battle.
It is interesting, though, how few people from the "old" days are still with him. Of Farage's close team from the days when he was a newly-elected MEP, most have left the party. Not a few, such as Mackinlay (and, of course, myself), have become his political opponents.
And what a very different party it might have been if things had been otherwise.
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