Could Neil Hamilton be the face of Ukip 2018?, Ugh.

With Wales to its shame  being the  redoubt of Ukip  as it , councillors, members  and indeed leaders almost daily the Wasting Mule has been asking 

"What senior Ukip figures in Wales think of a Nigel Farage comeback".

David Williamson writes

Ukip is now in a state of chaos. A string of leaders have come and gone since Mr Farage stepped down in November 2016 and the party’s vote share has crashed.

Mr Farage has ruled out returning to helm the party but this has not stopped bookmakers William Hill making him the 7/2 favourite to be the next leader – and he would not struggle to find strong support in Welsh ranks.

David Rowlands, Ukip AM for South East Wales, was one of seven elected in the 2016 Assembly breakthrough and he would like to see Mr Farage back at the heart of the party.

He said: 

“I’m convinced that overwhelmingly, the people on the ground – the real grassroots of the party – would like to see Nigel take a much bigger role

“What is happening at the moment is that he is still doing his Nigel bit but it’s really in his own name and I think that people would like to see him back. There’s no doubt about that, generally speaking.”again within the party, yes.”

Nathan Gill, a Welsh Ukip MEP and former AM who was replaced as leader in Wales by Neil Hamilton shortly after the 2016 election, believes the party needs Mr Farage to get back into the driving seat. However, he doubts that the 53-year-old MEP would take the job.
He said:

 “I think it’s something that’s Ukip definitely needs. I don’t think it’s something that Nigel needs...
“I famously said that being the leader of Ukip Wales was like herding cats. Being the leader of Ukip as a whole is like herding cats with blindfolds on in a dark room.
“It’s an impossibility. We’ve seen now several leaders in a row come and go.
“They all they thought, ‘Oh, we can do what Nigel can do.’ There’s only one Nigel Farage – he’s proven it.
“The party really only responds to him. But the question we need to ask is, ‘Why would he come back?’ And he’s confirmed to me the only reason he would come back is if they were going to betray Brexit and that still remains to be seen.”
 “If Nigel Farage was to come back and call everybody to arms again I believe that a lot of people would come back but under the current leadership and structure the party hasn’t got a chance.”

However, present Ukip Wales leader Mr Hamilton, said he did not detect a clamour for Mr Farage to take the reins again.
He said: 

“I think that’s extremely unlikely. Nigel said that he was going to walk away 18 months or so ago to get his life back. Well, we haven’t seen much of that but I think it very unlikely that Nigel would want once again to be the administrative head of a political party.
“He’s basically a campaigner and not somebody who is interested in party organisation. He backed Henry Bolton and lost so I think [he] would wary of putting his hat in the ring...
“I think he’s cut adrift from the leadership anyway and he’s been at loggerheads with the Ukip national executive... His flirting with a second referendum, I think, did him a lot of damage with Ukip members.”

 

With Ukip over the boarder set for a drubbing in local elections in May,  Mr Hamilton  who  in his first days of being elected as an AM ousted Nathan Gill as leader in the Sened in a coup has problems of his own.

Gill left the group and sat a an "Independent Ukip AM" eventual resigning from the Assembly last year.

Mandy Jones succeeded Nathan Gill as a North Wales AM in December but was not accepted into the UKIP group, which she later described as "toxic".

Her spokesperson said she was leaving the Ty Hywel office block for a former shop in the Senedd building "to help ease tension" after disagreement with UKIP group leader Neil Hamilton.


Ms Jones has been sitting as an independent AM following a row with UKIP over her choice of staff.
The party claimed she had chosen to employ people who were members of other parties, or had recently campaigned for other parties, or both.
In January, Mr Hamilton said the people concerned had said "very unpleasant and insulting things" about him and other UKIP AMs.
A spokesperson for Ms Jones said: 

"I can confirm that Mandy Jones AM is moving offices after a request from Mandy to help ease tension after the public disagreement between her and Neil Hamilton."

The Assembly Commission said it "responds to members' requests for office accommodation changes in accordance with its statutory duty to ensure that the Assembly has the resources and support necessary to fulfil their responsibilities as elected representatives". 

Ukip may be on its deathbed and at the moment I doubt even Mr Farage will preform a Lazarist recovery .

But with a dwindling number of "Senior Figures"  the BBC maybe have to look to the Ukip Assembly group to fill the almost permanent  chair on Question Time and other political shows.

Not a shy man Neil Hamilton and his ghastly wife  may well be gracing our screens even more screens more in  2018