In a sign of the growing animosity between Conservatives and UKIP, a Tory MEP has dredged up damaging allegations of racist comments by Nigel Farage. Sajjad Karim — the first British Muslim to be elected to the European Parliament — claimed on his official Facebook page that Farage had told party activists:

“we will never win the nigger vote. The nig-nogs will never vote for us.”

Karim’s post resurrects previous claims by the founder of UKIP — made as he left the party claiming it had been “infected by the far right”. The message was posted yesterday as a row erupted over a controversial UKIP billboard on immigration (above) — provocatively erected in the multiethnic Levenshulme area of Manchester.

While burgeoning on mainstream success, the party has struggled to deal with extremists in its own ranks. A UKIP candidate remained under the party’s banner last year despite Scrapbook exposing comments comparing Islam’s holiest book to Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

“Loonies, fruitcakes and closet racists” — at least David Cameron was right about one thing.