Nigel farage has resigned as ukip leader

[MsKite]

According to the FT on Twitter 😳

On the Labour side, it is people like Umunna and Benn rather than Corbyn and on the Conservative side it is Theresa May rather than Leadsom and Gove. Well I wish the 'Establishment favourites' were in place now. Then we could get on and stabilise the country. Nature abhors a vacuum and I fear the forces which could fill it.

'Well I wish the 'Establishment favourites' were in place now. Then we could get on and stabilise the country. Nature abhors a vacuum and I fear the forces which could fill it.'

That is why the Daily Mail wants Theresa May in.

However, the people have spoken, and the Establishment may not be able to control the outcome. The Brexiteers are worried that the Establishment will use its "political class" in conjunction with the media to overturn "the will of the people".

Unfortunately, sorting out this mess is going to kick PR even further into the long grass than it is already. Despite this referendum clearly showing what a bad idea binary choices are. 'The people spoke' - and nearly half of them said 'Remain', while slightly over half said 'Leave' but for lots of reasons, some mutually incompatible or entirely counterfactual.

'Unfortunately, sorting out this mess is going to kick PR even further into the long grass than it is already.'

Yes, that is unfortunately possible. However, the Greens are doing a great job in calling for change and Jenny Jones has just been on Sky saying we really need an election because lots of the people in charge do not represent the people. Even Establishment favourite, Umunna, has said he now favours PR voting. Without PR voting, Labour are probably finished for decades, so I think we will have to have PR voting so as not to disenfranchise millions of people.

'so I think we will have to have PR voting so as not to disenfranchise millions of people.' But that's exactly how its been for decades (eg the 1983 GE in which the alliance got over a quarter of the vote but only 23 seats while Labour only a couple of points ahead got 209).

'But that's exactly how its been for decades'

Yes, but we have just had the biggest popular revolution in decades, Brexit, when the people defied the great and the good, tthe sleazy and the slimy, the bankers, the IMF, the "career politicians", the Bank Of England, the Guardian, the Labour Party etc etc

The Establishment will now have to adapt to maintain credibility and it may have to agree to give us PR voting or more people will lose faith in the system because it is undemocratic.

I'll miss him. He brought colour & drama into dull politics & had real charisma & personality.
But he's right. It's 'job done' as far as he's concerned - now he can retire knowing he, almost single handily, got us out of the EU & changed our country for ever.

It'd be quite ironic if one of the results of Leave was to finally get one of the things which the solidly Remain party has yearned for for years. Stranger things have happened.

Good, now I've some hope - we get PR, the ordinary people who are sick of the extremes on either side vote for moderation and unity and in due course we rejoin the EU. It would be a bloody painful way to get there though.

Hardly unexpected.

He's promised immigration controls to get Leave votes then resigns because he knows it's impossible to get a free trade agreement with EU AND immigration controls. He knows the UK economy with thrive with a free trade agreement and the free down to maximise world trade, and will be screwed without it.

The way forward is a free trade agreement which means accepting current EU regulation.

If anyone though immigration controls were possible without sinking our economy they are sadly deluded.

I wouldn't see it as "job done" until we are actually out of the EU.

I wouldn't see it as "job done" until we are actually out of the EU

Which is the hard bit and where he'll be shown up in practice, not just in theory.

He couldn't deliver EU immigration controls without destroying our relationship with the EU and sinking the economy.

"The people" haven't spoken. Only 37% have, and a significant proportion of those have changed their minds.

True Winterbiscuit but he got us the referendum ( & won it! ) which is job done as far as he's concerned. That was UKIP's whole reason for being & they pulled it off. What else can he do now really? It's not like he can be involved in any negotiation talks as the EU hate him as much as he hates them.

I think we're deluded if we think Ukip are going anywhere. The people behind Farage will see this as their big moment and they will make him look about as loathsome as Terry Wogan. They may even have given him the push.

What I've never understood is how Farage can be an MEP when he wants out of the EU. It's like having a split personality. Like saying I hate hospitals and then working as a nurse. Can someone explain?

To get insider knowledge probably.
Plus he wasn't UKIP leader when he was first elected as an MEP.

UKIP set themselves up to gain MEPs as a spoiler - being absent or disruptive instead of actually ever intending to represent their constituents interests in the European Parliament.

Good, glad he's leaving, maybe now the Leavers won't be tarnished with the brush of racists which he has come to represent.

What a surprise, Farage dropping the ball as soon as there is real work to be done.

Maybe he'll have time to attend those EU Fisheries Committee meetings now!

a significant proportion of those have changed their minds.

I suspect quite a few could be remainers, saying they "regret their leave vote".

Good, glad he's leaving, maybe now the Leavers won't be tarnished with the brush of racists which he has come to represent.

Hear hear Maz

I am very sorry but a system of PR does not mean unity. It can if people can work together, but can they now? Lots of countries with PR find it difficult to form a government, Italy and Israel spring to mind. I am also afraid that we have a public that has long understood First Past The Post and has never had the interest or real inclination to change. If it did, the Lib Dems would have been in power a long time ago. Sometimes systems of PR do not bring about stable government, in fact the opposite, because the differing factions fall out. Therefore not much different from what we see now. FPTP is a democratic system but it is based wholly on MPs representing an area (which the population like) and it is simple to operate and understand. Multi-party politics has made it more difficult but will the parties ever work together? UKIP rhetoric and hustling will make the Tories ever more right-wing so where do their centre leaning poiticians go? (Yes, there are some!). The same will apply to centre leaning Labour people as the old socialist wing get more vocal. You will just have a mix of ideologies that are trying to do their best but falling out all the time. Look at Labour right now. FPTP does normally bring stable government and we really do need that right now.

There is an excellent article in the Indy online abut Farage. Rats jumping a sinking ship - etc! These Brexit politicians are jumping ship very quickly now there are troubled waters ahead.

Farage will not shut up. He is born to heckle. Just wait for a bit and he will be shouting from the sidelines about whatever we negotiate in Europe and will be attacking who does it. If he retired to run a pub somewhere it would be a result!!!

bojo - yes, I know - that was a bit of fantasy. And of course, if 'the people' had wanted to change the voting system, then there was the opportunity for AV as a step in the right direction even if it wasn't ideal.

He's abandoning the sinking ship.