Greg Lance - Watkins (Greg_L-W)
6:00AM BST 08 Oct 2014
Nigel Farage will be leader of the UK Independence Party for another four years, it has emerged.
Mr Farage’s new term in office means that he is likely to be Ukip leader if there is an in/out referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.
The Conservatives have pledged to hold a poll by the end of 2017, if the party is returned to power in May’s general election.
It also means that his leadership has been secured ahead of the Clacton and Rochester and Strood by-elections, which could see either Douglas Carswell or Mark Reckless elected as the party’s first MPs.
Mr Farage was re-elected during a leadership campaign before last month’s party conference in Doncaster when no one stood against him.
Mr Farage’s term as leader was due to expire on November 5 2014. His new term as leader will take him until November 5 2018. Mr Farage told The Telegraph: “We had a process which closed off a few weeks ago and there was no opposition.”
Mr Farage has already said that he would quit as Ukip leader if no Ukip MPs are elected in May’s general election.
This is now looking less likely given that Mr Carswell, the Tory MP who defected to Ukip in August, is set to returned as Ukip’s first MP on Thursday.
Mr Farage has said that he does not expect to be the leader of Ukip in ten years’ time. He said at last year’s conference that his successor would be a woman, saying Ukip is more likely to adopt a female leader than any other party.
Suzanne Evans, the party’s communities spokesman, is thought by members to be a front runner although she has played down her chances.
Ukip’s leaders are elected for four year terms. Mr Farage has been leader of Ukip intermittently for the past eight years, between September 2006 and 2009, and then from 2010 until now.
Asked in February at the party’s Spring conference if he would resign if no Ukip MPs were elected in May’s election, he said: “Good Lord yes. I will be out of the door before you can say ‘Jack Robinson’.”
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