If the party tries to ‘detoxify’, it will just poison itself.

In his ten years of uninterrupted leadership, Nigel Farage made UKIP probably the world’s most successful single issue party ever. Given this, it’s surprising there isn’t a giant mural of the man hanging off the side of the party HQ.

When most parties enjoy the success that UKIP has enjoyed, it is common practice for the leader to stand up and say he couldn’t have done it without thousands of volunteers and a dedicated team around him. But in the case of UKIP, all other members simply made up the numbers while Nigel got the job done and spooked David Cameron into holding, and losing, the EU referendum.

Yet there is a clique within UKIP who seem to think Farage is part of the problem, and the party must disown his legacy to progress. Suzanne Evans, the presentable and influential, yet lightweight, former Deputy Chairman, says the party must move to the ‘compassionate centre-ground’ to gain further electoral success. Then there’s the only UKIP MP, Douglas Carswell, who must realise he’s in the wrong party by now, and seems to do little other than pick fights with Farage.

But all any kind of detoxification strategy would do is give the public more of what they already have. There is already a more cuddly version of UKIP and it’s called Theresa May’s Conservatives.

While some members have a vision of UKIP being able to step into the void of opposition left by the troubles of Labour and the Liberal Democrats, the reality is, without Nigel Farage’s personality, the next election is all about survival. David Cameron was a cardboard cutout from the Liberal Metropolitan Elite and never a threat to UKIP’s core vote, but Theresa May will pose an altogether tougher challenge.

The first priority has to be to keep hold of the 12.6% of the vote UKIP gained last election. If the party can do that, it will maintain all those extra slots on Question Time and hours of advertising gained during the 2015 election. This will allow UKIP to promote its message in the long-term.

To do this, the party needs Unique Selling Points (USPs), just like in business. That’s why it was strange to see large numbers of UKIP MEPs apparently having a hissy fit about Farage’s support of Donald Trump. Over 3.8 million voters in 2015 didn’t mind Farage saying foreign HIV patients should be turned away from the NHS so why do UKIP MEPs think Donald Trump would be such a sticking point for these voters?

At a time when even most Conservatives would demand a radiation suit to shake hands with the Republican presidential candidate, UKIP has a great opportunity to do what it always did under Farage and refuse to follow the herd.

Another potential USP could be support for President Assad in Syria. With the policies of the main parties looking pretty out of touch with reality, UKIP could position itself as the decisively anti-war party.

Everybody knows that, whatever Assad’s crimes, there is no trustworthy fighting force in Syria that can form a stable, pro-Western government, devoid of Islamists, or provide protection for minorities. If none of the major parties are willing to admit this then UKIP should force them.

UKIP could also have more of an opinion on minor issues involving public figures, such as the case of Ched Evans. It won’t win elections on its own but since David Cameron and Nick Clegg were so keen to castigate the guy when he was found guilty, UKIP are well within their rights to position themselves against large sections of the media who now refuse to accept the ‘not guilty’ verdict.

The positions I mentioned above may be minority positions but they are positions of a very substantial minority, positions I’m pretty sure Nigel Farage agrees with and positions the overwhelming majority of potential UKIP voters would agree with. They’re also in no way bigoted BNP-type positions.

UKIP is Nigel Farage and Nigel Farage is UKIP. If anyone wants to throw the captain overboard and steer the ship towards the centre ground, then there’s a great big Conservative yacht waiting for them in calmer waters.