Farage Urges UKIP to Give Power to Members and Learn from Corbyn’s Momentum

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has said his party should emulate Jeremy Corbyn’s pressure group/faction of the Labour Party, Momentum.

Mr Farage has previously called for the party to better utilise the internet and learn from other insurgent populist movements such as Italy’s Five Star Movement.

After Labour’s general election campaign, which eroded a 20-point Tory lead, Mr Farage sees the young, internet focused, far-left Momentum as a source of inspiration for UKIP.

He said UKIP should restructure itself to empower party members. “In some ways, Labour has done that with Momentum, its campaign group,” Mr Farage told The Sunday Telegraph.

“Labour is exceeding in online engagement in the same way. UKIP needs to go in that direction,” he added.

Specifically, he argued that UKIP members should be able to vote on whether the party adopts certain policies in the future.

The idea has also been floated by Jeremy Corbyn’s team, who aim to “democratise” the Labour Party to keep its hundreds of thousands of new members engaged.

Mr Farage has previously argued with UKIP’s National Executive Committee (NEC), insisting they interfere with the leadership and wield too much power. He said the move could help circumvent the NEC.

“If there was a big policy debate and you were leader, you could put it directly to the members, saying ‘I want to go this way: will you support me or not?’” Mr Farage said.

“Currently you have to go through a one-month debate with a series of willing volunteers [on the National Executive Committee] who do not understand politics.

“The party has no professional management. But if a leader can reach out directly to the membership, you would expect him to win.”

UKIP won just 1.8 per cent of the vote in the general election – a dramatic drop from the 12.6 per cent they secured in 2015.