Nigel Farage is not up to the job of Ukip leader, says Godfrey Bloom (Video)

Nigel Farage is not up to the job of leading the UK Independence Party and should step down to make way for a younger replacement, his former flatmate has said.

Godfrey Bloom, who was elected as Ukip MEP but now serves as an independent, said that Mr Farage was a "salesman" who lacked the ability to properly lead the party.

His comment, in an interview with the Telegraph, came as Mr Farage prepared to meet Nick Clegg in his second televised Liberal Democrat leader over Europe.

Mr Clegg told the Telegraph he believed he can “unsettle” Mr Farage, suggesting his opponent is unable to cope with proper political scrutiny.

Mr Bloom, who shared a flat in Brussels with the Ukip leader for several years, had the party whip withdrawn after he referred to women as "sluts" and struck a journalist on the street.

He said that although Mr Farage acted as a "charismatic" and "articulate" salesman for the Ukip brand he is not up to the role of "managing director or chairman of the board."

Asked if he believed Mr Farage was intelligent, Mr Bloom replied: "In what way?"

By contrast, Mr Bloom said there were many "bright young people" waiting in the wings of Ukip but that Mr Farage was blocking their chances of coming "to the surface" of the party.

He added: "Nigel has been doing it for twenty years, I think perhaps one might argue that's too long.”

If Ukip does badly at next year’s general election, Mr Farage “will go anyway," he said.

He added that Ukip would struggle at the 2015 general election unless the party "sharpens its game".

Mr Farage clashed with Mr Clegg last week in a live debate and will face the Lib Dem leader again tonight in a BBC event.

An opinion poll suggested that Mr Farage won last week’s debate, but Mr Clegg said he is undeterred, believing he “unsettled” the Ukip leader last week by bombarding him with statistical claims about Europe.

Mr Clegg told the Telegraph that Mr Farage is touchy and unable to cope with the pressure of real political debate.

“The more I set out the facts, the more Nigel Farage became agitated and unsettled,” he said.

“He clearly is not accustomed to having people point out that a lot of his assertions are not grounded in fact.”

He added: “He likes to cast himself as some plucky outsider. He is not able to deal with the facts so he resorts to bluster.”

Mr Clegg said that Mr Farage has so far avoided the same political scrutiny as the leaders of bigger parties.

“He likes to play the outsider, but he is very much the establishment figure,” Mr Cleg said. “Nigel Farage has been treated with absolute kid gloves. He is not the outsider who has had a tough time.”

As an example, he cited Mr Farage’s remark earlier year about female salaries in the City.

In January, Mr Farage said women who have children are "worth less" to firms in the financial sector.

“If a woman has a client base and has a child and takes two or three years off work, she is worth far less to the employer when she comes back than when she goes away because her client base cannot be stuck rigidly to her,” Mr Farage said at the time.

Mr Clegg described that as a “Neanderthal view”, adding: “He has been able to repeat these extraordinary claims completely unchallenged.

The Telegraph

http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/ukip/article/3538/nigel-farage-is-not-up-to-the-job-of-ukip-leader-says-godfrey-bloom

 ::hndbg::  A bit of internal fighting amongst the racists and homophobes!  ::fishffight:: ::smthg:: ::smthg:: ::smthg:: 

How can it be internal when Godfrey Bloom was removed from the party?

The problem it seems that a certain political class cannot understand that while the criticisms Clegg is levelling against Nigel are mostly true - that that is why UKIP are gaining.

The man on the street is fed up with polished politicians that can pass political scrutiny but have no idea of what their own everyday life is like. When Nigel gets angry, when he sweats, when he gets touchy he is reacting like the ordinary man in the street.

UKIP is not a clone of the other 3 - and that is why they are gaining.

sphinx wrote:How can it be internal when Godfrey Bloom was removed from the party?

The problem it seems that a certain political class cannot understand that while  the criticisms Clegg is levelling against Nigel are mostly true - that that is why UKIP are gaining.

The man on the street is fed up with polished politicians that can pass political scrutiny but have no idea of what their own everyday life is like.  When Nigel gets angry, when he sweats, when he gets touchy he is reacting like the ordinary man in the street.

UKIP is not a clone of the other 3 - and that is why they are gaining.

Bloom is still in the UKIP fold, going by recent reports..So just more UKIP lies

and..... http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/ Still no surge in the polls and hovering around the 10% bunch of no marks!     

OK my mistake - last I heard was him talking of leaving. He is now just an ordinary member so that internal fighting will be rather like what happened when Gordon Brown called a supporter bigoted except in this case it is not the party leader picking on ordinary members.

Nice to see we are still hovering in 3rd well clear of the Lib dems.

sphinx wrote:OK my mistake - last I heard was him talking of leaving.  He is now just an ordinary member so that internal fighting will be rather like what happened when Gordon Brown called a supporter bigoted except in this case it is not the party leader picking on ordinary members.

Nice to see we are still hovering in 3rd well clear of the Lib dems.

May i ask if you support UKIP?

FluffyBunny wrote:

sphinx wrote:OK my mistake - last I heard was him talking of leaving.  He is now just an ordinary member so that internal fighting will be rather like what happened when Gordon Brown called a supporter bigoted except in this case it is not the party leader picking on ordinary members.

Nice to see we are still hovering in 3rd well clear of the Lib dems.

May i ask if you support UKIP?

LOL uh yeah.

Pleased to meet you fluffy - I am well known as a UKIP supporter round here.

sphinx wrote:

FluffyBunny wrote:

May i ask if you support UKIP?

LOL uh yeah.

Pleased to meet you fluffy - I am well known as a UKIP supporter round here.

You mean memberand promoter of the party too do you not Sphinx?

Bit more than your average supporter

Oh that reminds me, what do you think of the new Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between EU and US sphinx?

Didge wrote:

sphinx wrote:

LOL uh yeah.

Pleased to meet you fluffy - I am well known as a UKIP supporter round here.

You mean memberand promoter of the party too do you not Sphinx?

Bit more than your average supporter

Actually no an exactly average supporter didge - you see members tend to join because they believe in what is being done, and when people believe in something they tend to promote it.

The TTIP? Lets see what it boils down to is giving big corporations the right to sue national governments for instigating legislation that hurts their profits in a similar way to how Australian authorities are being sued for introducing plain cigarette packaging.

What could possibly be objectionable about that?

Oh yes and didge - you have been wanting figures and answers to what if the EU does this that or the other if we try and leave

Answers HERE