Ukip civil war reignites: Carswell slams Farage over 'plain wrong' election attack on foreign HIV patients

  • In election debates Mr Farage criticised HIV treatment given to foreigners
  • Ukip MP Douglas Carswell said the remarks were 'wrong at so many levels'
  • The pair clashed in the wake of Mr Farage's 'unresignation' as party leader 

By Tom McTague, Deputy Political Editor for MailOnline

Published: | Updated:

Ukip MP Douglas Carswell reignited his feud with Nigel Farage this morning after publicly slamming his election attacks on foreign HIV sufferers receiving treatment on the NHS.

Mr Carswell, who is Ukip's only representative in the Commons, said the remarks were 'mean-spirited' and 'wrong'.

It comes after the pair clashed in the wake of Mr Farage's dramatic decision to 'unresign' as party leader following his election defeat earlier this month.

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Ukip MP Douglas Carswell reignited his feud with Nigel Farage this morning after publicly slamming his election attacks on foreign HIV sufferers receiving treatment on the NHS

Ukip MP Douglas Carswell reignited his feud with Nigel Farage this morning after publicly slamming his election attacks on foreign HIV sufferers receiving treatment on the NHS

The Ukip leader appeared to blame Mr Carswell for a failed plot oust him. It came after the MEP Patrick O'Flynn was forced to stand down after describing Mr Farage as 'snarling, thin skinned and aggressive'. 

Mr Carswell this morning insisted he had never called for Mr Farage to quit as leader - but then lashed out at his anti-immigrant campaign rhetoric.

Asked if he had settled his differences with Mr Farage, the Ukip MP told BBC Radio 5 live's Pienaar's Politics: 'He has always been the leader of Ukip and I've never, never questioned that at all.

'But I think it's really, really, really, really important, really important that any party that didn't do as well as it wanted to do asks awkward questions of itself.

'I think some of the tone that we deployed - for example the comments about HIV I think were plain wrong. Wrong at so many levels. Not just wrong because they were electorally unhelpful but just wrong because they were wrong.'

During the TV election debates Nigel Farage said it was wrong that people 'can come to Britain from anywhere in the world and get diagnosed with HIV and get retroviral drugs that cost up to £25,000'

During the TV election debates Nigel Farage said it was wrong that people 'can come to Britain from anywhere in the world and get diagnosed with HIV and get retroviral drugs that cost up to £25,000'

During the TV election debates Mr Farage said it was wrong that people 'can come to Britain from anywhere in the world and get diagnosed with HIV and get retroviral drugs that cost up to £25,000 per year per patient'.

He said that Britain needs to ensure that the NHS is for 'British people and families who in many cases have paid into this system for decades'.

But Mr Carswell - whose father was the scientist who diagnosed the first cases of HIV - warned Ukip needed to 'always remember' that there was 'something fundamentally generous' about Britain.

He said: 'Some of the things we said ....There's something wonderfully generous about this country and there's something wonderfully good and right about this country and if we frame debates that are mean-spirited I think a lot of people in this country will be put off.

'Yes, there's a really important case to be made about restricting people's right to come here and take advantage of our health service and we need to make sure it is not an international health service, but there's also something fundamentally generous about this country and I think we should always remember that.'

Earlier this month, Ukip's only MP dismissed suggestions he wanted the top job, but argued the party should not take 'big decisions' about the leadership in the immediate aftermath of a tough election battle.

He criticised Mr Farage's 'ill advised' decision to raise concerns about immigrants coming to Britain for free treatment for HIV, saying Ukip had not been striking the right 'tone'.

HIV & AIDSNigel FarageUKIP

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