[BBC] A row has erupted at the top of UKIP over Nigel Farage's future resulting in the departure of two senior advisers.Matthew Richardson quit the party after MEP Patrick O'Flynn claimed Mr Farage had fallen under the influence of "inexperienced" advisers.
Mr Farage's chief of staff, Raheem Kassam told the BBC he was not quitting but the party later said he had gone.
Mr O'Flynn claimed in a Times article that Mr Farage had become a "snarling, thin-skinned, aggressive" man.
The MEP and UKIP economics front man, who has said he wants Mr Farage to remain as leader, wrote in The Times that the UKIP leader had moved away from being a "cheerful, ebullient... daring" politician.
'Political hero'
And he said some around Mr Farage "would like to take UKIP in the direction of some hard-right, ultra-aggressive American Tea Party-type movement".
But he later clarified that he was not "planning some kind of coup against" Mr Farage, who he described as his "political hero".
He claimed Mr Farage had fallen under the influence of "aggressive" advisers and risked turning the party into a "personality cult".