Nigel Farage is believed to have forced UKIP’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to refuse his resignation despite opposition to the plan. Breitbart London understands he considered reneging on his commitment to resign before he even made the announcement on Friday.

Farage had publicly stated he would leave the post if he failed to win a seat as it would be impossible “to do the job from the Westminster Arms”, a pub near Parliament. In the minutes after losing he is believed to have been torn between keeping his promise and staying on.

UKIP had become convinced they would win a pile of Parliamentary seats including South Thanet. In the end the party lost one of their two seats, leaving them with only Douglas Carswell. This was despite scoring almost four million votes.

During Monday’s meeting Farage painted a bleak picture of life without him, and sat in the room as the NEC discussed whether he should stay on. This made it impossible for his opponents to express their views on the subject.

One source even claimed he insisted on sitting through the vote itself so he could see which way NEC members voted. In the end they agreed to reject his resignation and instead give him a long holiday over the summer.

Over the weekend several groups had been planning leadership runs. One group is believed to have favoured Douglas Carswell, who is rumoured to have strained relations with Nigel Farage. The two are rarely seen together publicly and Carswell was noticeably absent from a number of major UKIP events.

Carswell’s father was instrumental in the fight against Aids in Africa, and as a result he did not approve of Farage’s comments on sufferers of the disease coming to this country.