UKIP cannot survive without the leadership of Nigel Farage and he represents the crisis-hit party’s best chance of regaining its flagging credibility.

Since achieving its principle aim, to secure a British vote to leave the EU, the party has been in a state of tumult.

A battle is raging over its future direction after tensions between former leader Mr Farage and its sole MP, Douglas Carswell, the former Conservative, blew up again this week.

Major donor Arron Banks has suggested he could stand against Mr Carswell, who at times looks like he is deliberately stirring up divisions to cause maximum damage to the party.

The two have been at loggerheads over Ukip’s strategic aims. Mr Banks has already threatened to pull his funding after the party failed to take Brexit hotbed Stoke Central from Labour in last week’s by-election, blaming “dullards” like Mr Carswell for the defeat. New leader Paul Nuttall’s gamble of standing himself failed to come off, raising questions as to whether a Ukip without Mr Farage at the helm could challenge Labour in its traditional heartlands.

Mr Farage told journalists that Mr Carswell was a “Tory party posh boy”, which seems a bit rich coming from a man educated at Dulwich College public school who hails from a family of stockbrokers. The latest public spat comes amid claims that Mr Carswell resisted attempts by senior Ukip figures to secure a knighthood for former leader Mr Farage. That is the same Nigel Farage who claims to despise the ruling elite and what they stand for but covets their titles and trappings.

Mr Farage may be as inconsistent and two-faced as the MPs he opposes but his broad appeal and slick charisma are proving hard to replace. If Ukip hopes to secure itself a future as a significant political force it needs Mr Farage to play a hands-on role.