UKIP's Farage Dismisses 'Vanity' Criticism as 'Nonesense'

The UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage called Amjad Bashir’s criticism, who abandoned the party, “nonsense” and added that some UKIP members begged him to get rid of Bashir in 2014.

MOSCOW, January 25 (Sputnik) — The UK Independence Party leader dismissed Amjad Bashir’s criticism of UKIP on Sunday, saying the party’s relationship with the former member, who defected to join the Conservatives, had come to a complete end.

"Whichever way we look at this, he [Bashir] had reached the end of the road with us," Nigel Farage told the BBC.

Farage said Bashir’s claim that he led the party in a dictatorial manner was “nonsense”, adding that “maybe I’m too soft … I chose to take the tolerant approach.”

According to Farage, some of the UKIP members had begged him to get rid of Bashir in late 2014.

On Saturday, UKIP posted a statement claiming Bashir was suspended from the party pending investigations on “unanswered financial and employment questions." The statement came shortly before the former member announced quitting the party, where he served as an UKIP Member of the European Parliament for less than a year.

In a letter published by the Daily Mail on Sunday, Bashir said UKIP was a “vanity project” for the dictatorial leader who got rid of anybody standing on his way.

Bashir added that he joined UKIP for its support on United Kingdom’s independence from the European Union. However, Bashir said that he trusted the Conservative party led by Prime Minister David Cameron will deliver on an EU membership referendum.

Cameron pledged to hold a referendum by 2017 on whether the United Kingdom should stay in the European Union, if his party wins the upcoming general elections in May.

Meanwhile, Farage told the BBC he was willing to cooperate with the Conservative party over the shared goal of an EU referendum.