Nigel Farage fires the starting gun for the EU referendum No campaign
Nigel Farage has put himself forward as a potential leader of the No campaign in the EU referendum.
While Farage’s charisma may make him seem an obvious candidate, many No supporters will see him as too polarising and unlikely to appeal strongly to moderate or undecided voters.
Douglas Carswell, Ukip’s only sitting MP, said he didn’t think the No campaign should be led by a politician. Ukip’s leader clearly believes otherwise.
Speaking on the Today programme, Farage said:
We are the people that can fight the ground game. We’re the people that can put leaflets through doors, we’re the people who can put posters in farmers’ fields.
We’re the people that can organise and hold a massive series of public meetings, which I’m going to be doing with my colleagues from September.
The Yes campaign has started. Every single week we get a statement from a big business saying Britain must vote yes.
I’m not going to wait around until Christmas waiting for them to get started. We’re up against big forces and people need to put aside personal jealousies and animosities and work together. Ukip can bring half the votes needed to win this referendum.
Farage did go on to say he hoped while Ukip could be an important element, it would do dominate the No campaign.
I think we do need a group of businessmen, a group of cross-party people that form a no umbrella under which Labour, Conservative Eurosceptics, sports stars, whatever it is, can operate.
The latest data suggests that the vote is finely poised. A study from Pew Research this week found that just over half of respondents would rather stay in the EU.