A day after we see a report that Blair is the least trusted figure in the EU debate, with Farage the second most distrusted figure, up pops the Ukip leader telling us he is going to lead the “out” campaign. 

 

So well prepared is the man, though, that he doesn’t even seem to have realised that this is going to be a “yes-no” campaign and that he wants to be leading the “no” side.Displaying the same arrogance as other wannabes, he also fails to realise that the lead organisation is not going to self-nominate. The leads on both sides are for the Electoral Commission to designate – and that is not going to happen until after the Referendum Bill has become law.

The rather strange thing is that this is not exactly a secret. It has been a facet of all recent referendums, and is going to be a crucial part of this one, with a very substantial dowry – worth several millions – and other privileges awarded to the designated organisations.

But if Farage is even aware of this, he has given no sign of it, planning to make a speech today to his own activists, after claiming: “We are going to take the lead, we are going to get cracking”.

Then says Farage: “We will be launching a massive series of public events and meetings all over the country starting in September. These will be public meetings. They will be live web streamed”. Then, he adds: “We are going to be busy, delivering leaflets through the doors by the million. We are not prepared to stand around and wait”.

What is worrying the man – and he’s not alone in this – is prominent campaigners who want to wait to see the result of Mr Cameron’s renegotiation before they make a move. In response, he says: ” The No campaign needs to get itself moving. All this nonsense from very snobby Tories that we should not dominate the campaign and I should go on holiday for six months – forget it!”

Nevertheless, while expecting to be at the forefront, Farage is saying that “we will open our arms and be all embracing and welcome everybody”. We will “reach out broadly across Eurosceptic community and across communities in this country”, he says.

Bearing in mind that Ukip only represents eight percent of the total electorate, if it is to stand a chance of winning the lead designation, it will have to attract the support of others, yet there are no indications as yet of which other groups are prepared to throw in their lot with the party.

There are some indications that there may be at least one more and possibly two competitive bidders for the designation, with the anti-EU movement totally fragmented. This raises the spectre of the Electoral Commission refusing to designate a “no” lead, leaving the groups to fight it out between themselves, without the financial support or any official status.

Despite this, Farage is making it clear that he refuses to be treated as “the naughty boy of British politics, being told to go and behave and stay out of the way”. He says: “That simply isn’t going to happen”.

“It is time”, Farage says, “for those across the political spectrum, particularly in the Conservative Party, to put their cards on the table. No more endless waiting, political hand-wringing or excuses. The campaign must start now”.

He says he is prepared to work with anyone and everyone who is willing to help us win this referendum and get Britain out of the European Union. But, he adds, “Those who want to help rather than harm our campaign need to stop wasting time, get off the fence and get on with helping us get our country back. There is not a minute to lose”.

All this, however, is going to cause more than a little dismay in certain quarters. Ukip, as a party, is demonstrably unprepared to fight an effective referendum campaign. Under a leader who has toxified the debate and whose tactical acumen has halved his party’s Westminster representation at the general election, few outsiders any confidence that Ukip’s intervention is going to help the cause.

Certainly, it is far too early to start active high-level active campaigning, and especially as so many of the strategic issues have yet to be resolved.

Thus, when it comes to writing the history of this campaign, I suspect that this week will mark another of those turning points which led us down the route to defeat. And future historians may well remark at the determination of so many parties on the “no” side, not only to repeat the mistakes of the 1975 campaign, but to invent a few more.

Whatever else, those historians will be wondering how it was that people apparently so committed to leaving the EU we so determined to do everything they could to remain members.

They only other thing they may ponder at is why there was, in fact, any need for a “yes” campaign, when the “noes” were so determined to lose all by themselves.