UKIP's Farage, Carswell at war over leadership style

Carswell called for a "fresh face" to lead the Eurosceptic group. Farage responded by telling the Essex MP to "put up or shut up".

Carswell, who is MP for Clacton, told the BBC that the UKIP needed to "change gear, and change its management if it's to go to the next level".

He did not single out Farage, but warned "no party is defined by one person" while taking part in a documentary for BBC Essex.

Carswell said the result of the Oldham West and Royton by-election, held by Labour with a comfortable majority demonstrated UKIP "very clearly, that we need a fresh face".

UKIP came in a distant second in the race.

When asked about Farage's claims that the by-election result was due to rigging of the postal votes, he said: "I don't want to wake up the morning after the European referendum and hear it was the postal votes."

Farage confirmed he would not sack Carswell - himself a Conservative defector - from the party, and simply asked him to refrain from divisive comments.

Another senior figure in the party, Patrick O'Flynn MEP, backed Farage on Friday, saying a leadership contest would not be in UKIP's best interests with the looming EU referendum.

He told the BBC "nobody has done more than Nigel Farage to bring about this referendum, and in my view he has a major role to play in the campaign and has earned the right to lead UKIP into it".

UKIP kept just one of the two seats it held in the House of Commons before the May 2015 general election, despite winning 12.6% of votes.

It currently has 22 members in the European Parliament, down from 24 at the 2014 elections due to one defection and one expulsion.