Nigel Farage 'aghast at Tory clown show' and now 'setting the agenda'
EXCLUSIVE: Mr Carswell believes Mr Farage's ongoing influence is a testament to the "monumental failure of 14 years of British Conservatism".
Douglas Carswell: GB would be in a 'worse state' without Farage
Nigel Farage has been right ‘time and time again’ when it comes to the big issues, and has been “put back in business” by the “bungling” Conservative Party, ex-UKIP leader Douglas Carswell has said.
The pair had a fractious relationship when Mr Farage was UKIP leader, and Mr Carswell famously tweeted a "sunshades smiley emoji" when Mr Farage resigned in 2016 after the referendum.
But, speaking to Express.co.uk via videolink from the United States, where he is now president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, former Clacton MP Mr Carswell nevertheless fully acknowledged the influence his old sparring partner continues to wield.
He said: “Hats off to Nigel Farage. Again and again and again, he has called it right, and again and again and again, people have dismissed him, and they've assumed he was going to go away.
“But the bungling clowns who preside over the actual Conservative Party have in effect put him back in business.
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“They had the opportunity to renegotiate Britain's relations with the EU they bungled that, putting euroscepticism back in business and Nigel back in business.
“After the referendum they almost bungled Britain's exit, propelling Nigel and the Brexit party to a stunning victory in the European elections.
“They failed to control Britain's borders again putting Nigel back mainstream.
“They failed to recognise that the obsession with Net Zero is economic suicide putting Reform UK back into business.
“I think Britain would be in an even worse state if it wasn't for what Nigel is doing.”
Nevertheless, Mr Carswell continued: “Isn't it a monumental failure of 14 years of British Conservatism that they're now in a situation where a single individual who's not formally standing for office and who's never been elected to Parliament is setting the terms of the debate?
“Where are the people in the conservative cabinet capable of addressing the issues that Nigel Farage addresses on social media every day?
“That is not just Nigel's achievement and hats off to it is a reflection of the utter infantilisation and utter mediocrity of the Parliamentary Conservative party. It's quite stunning.”
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Mr Farage, despite being the Honorary President of Reform UK, has been coy about his future political ambitions - but Mr Carswell downplayed suggestions that the 59-year-old was happier sitting on the sidelines.
He continued: “I don't know about that. I mean, I think his fundamental motivation is that he believes in his country.
“And I think like millions of people in the country he's absolutely aghast to see that the clown show which has been getting everything wrong.”
Despite never being elected as an MP, Mr Farage had proven himself an electoral asset to whichever party he was affiliated with, Mr Carswell pointed out.
Mr Farage attended this year’s Tory conference, and while he has consistently rejected any suggestion that he would rejoin the party he was last a member of in 1992, Mr Carswell suggested he might play a role - after Britain goes to the polls later this year.
He explained: “I suspect that a post-cataclysmic election result Tory party might actually want to look again whether or not it's assembled all the talents it needs on the centre right now.
“I suspect in a Conservative party that was genuinely democratic, that genuinely had open primary candidate selection, that genuinely allowed different conservative voices to stand, half the people who stand for Reform would be Conservatives.
“But the ability of a small clique in London to basically control who is and who isn't in the party I think is part of the party's problem.
“You've had 20 years of a list and 20 years of not having Nigel and people who think like Nigel in the party and look at what happens.”