Nigel Farage: Carswell is irrelevant and can do what he likes

The strained relationship between Ukip leader Nigel Farage and his only MP Douglas Carswell hit a new low last night, as Mr Farage accused him of being an ‘irrelevance’.

Asked whether Mr Carswell, who has publicly fallen out with the Ukip leader, should leave the party he replied: “He can do what he likes. I don’t care. He’s irrelevant.”

Mr Farage, who along with most Ukip politicians is aligned with the Grassroots Out group while Mr Carswell has joined Vote Leave, denied the party was engaged in “civil war”.

“We’ve got two dozen MEPs united. Hundreds of councillors united. Our three peers united. It would be better if Douglas Carswell saw the world the way we do. He doesn’t. It doesn’t matter,” he added.

His comments came at the Ladbrokes EU Referendum debate, held at Conrad St James’ London, in Westminster.

Mr Farage said the government had “fired all its bullets in one go” as it was in a “blind panic” over the public’s reaction to the deal David Cameron had secured.

“When you fire a machine gun you need to fire a few at a time otherwise the gun kicks up and you fire all your bullets too high,” he said. “The government has fired all its bullets in one go. Unless they say leaving will lead to a swarm of locusts coming to British shores there is nothing more they can say.”

He accused Remain campaigners of “lies” over their suggestion that Britain may struggle to trade in the single market.

“It’s a load of baloney. Even North Korea has access to the single market,” he said.

And he took up our very own Head of Political Betting, Matthew Shaddick, on a wager, handing over £20 in cash on the night for the 9/4 offered for a Brexit victory to the amusement of guests.

.@Nigel_Farage puts his money where his mouth is -He just staked £20 on a leave vote #LadbrokesEU pic.twitter.com/sYQFUzqq4a

— Ladbrokes Politics (@LadPolitics) March 3, 2016

Also speaking at the panel discussion, Tony Blair’s former director of political operations John McTernan accused the Leave side of “total hyperbole”.

He pushed Mr Farage to define what Britain’s relationship with the EU and other nations will look like.

“What will we be? Singapore? The 51st State of America? Will we have a Norway agreement?” he asked.

“We will have a British agreement,” Mr Farage retorted.

Meanwhile, Matthew Shaddick said that while more bets were being taken on ‘Leave’ more money was being placed on ‘Remain’.

Our Brexit Betting Barometer shows a 73% chance of Britain’s voting to remain on June 23 compared to 27% to leave.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.