Arron Banks fails to rule out running to replace Nigel Farage as Ukip leader

BREXIT campaigner and insurance tycoon Arron Banks has not ruled out running to replace Nigel Farage as Ukip leader.

The Leave.EU campaign chief also said he could set up a new party committed to holding more referendums if Andrea Leadsom won the Tory leadership.

2

But Mr Banks, who has been a major donor to Ukip, said they would be "back with a vengeance" if Theresa May took the keys to Number 10.

He suggested victory for the Home Secretary, who supported a Remain vote in the European Union referendum, would result in "the death of Brexit by a thousand cuts".

The 50-year-old said: "I think that if Theresa May wins, Ukip will be back with a vengeance. I think if Andrea Leadsom wins it will be a slightly different scenario."

That could potentially mean a new party because there are "very good, sound reasons for that".

He said: "If you look at our Leave.EU campaign, we had nearly a million online followers, the social media reached up to 15 million people a week, and we had tremendous reach. Our database has got something like 40,000 Conservative Party members on it.

"And albeit that the Conservative Party's a dying membership, it's only got 100,000 members, you contrast that to Labour with 500,000,

"I think there's a huge opportunity for a different type of party."

2

He suggested the new party could involve more "direct democracy".

"The elites have hated the referendum, because it took the power away from them, and actually I think this has been a wonderful thing.

"So actually the idea of more referendums and going down the Swiss kind of model I think would be fantastic."

RELATED STORIES:

'KEEP IT CLEAN'

May challenges Brexit champion Andrea Leadsom to reject help from Ukip and keep a 'clean campaign'

NIGEL THE NEGOTIATOR?

Tory PM hopeful Andrea Leadsom doesn't rule out Brexit role for Nigel Farage

The Hitler playbook

Remain campaign tactics compared to Nazi propaganda chief Josef Goebbels by Ukip founder

SMEAR CAMPAIGN

Claims Andrea Leadsom is facing ‘black-ops’ campaign by MPs are 'nonsense' despite accusations she is ‘Tory Jeremy Corbyn’

Speaking on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Banks said he had not decided on a bid to replace Nigel Farage as Ukip leader, adding: "I haven't discounted it completely".

Leave.EU has declared its support for Mrs Leadsom's leadership bid, but Mr Banks said he had had "absolutely no contact" with her or her team.

"But what I do fear is Theresa May, which I think will be the death of Brexit by a thousand cuts," he said.