Gerry Gunster (far left)
The US polling strategist behind Goddard Gunster who was hired by the Leave.EU campaign backed by Nigel Farage. The advocacy firm, which claims to have a 90% success rate in advising on referendums, assisted Leave.EU with its strategy during the EU referendum campaign.
Arron Banks
The Bristol-based multi-millionaire who has bankrolled Ukip for the last few years. He defected from the Conservatives before the 2015 general election and became part of Farage’s inner circle. He founded the Leave.EU group which applied unsuccessfully to be the official out campaign. It still garnered millions of grassroots supporters and a considerable social media presence. Since Farage resigned as Ukip leader (he is interim leader until a new one is elected), Banks has considered setting up a new anti-establishment movement along the lines of Five Star in Italy, which advocates direct democracy.
Nigel Farage
The interim Ukip leader has been expressing admiration, if not outright support, for Donald Trump over the last few months. He went to the US to spin for Trump at one of the debates between the presidential candidates, and appeared on stage at a Trump rally. He was the first foreign politician to secure a meeting with the president-elect in person.
Andy Wigmore
Banks’s communications adviser is rarely away from the boss’s side and features heavily in Banks’s book about the EU referendum campaign, The Bad Boys of Brexit. He is a Belizean who holds a diplomatic position.
Raheem Kassam
Farage’s former chief of staff and a member of his inner circle. He already has links to the Trump administration, having worked for some years with Steve Bannon, the president’s new chief strategist who ran the rightwing Breitbart News website. Kassam is the editor-in-chief of Breitbart in the UK but decided to run for Ukip leader in the autumn. He later withdrew saying the “path to victory was too narrow”.
The Brex Pistols 😂 pic.twitter.com/Szyg0RBu0r
— Raheem Kassam (@RaheemKassam) November 13, 2016
