UKIP's Farage hails united anti-EU campaign

(DONCASTER) - The leader of the UK Independence Party sought to present a united front among anti-EU factions before a referendum on Britain leaving the bloc as he addressed the party conference Friday.

Nigel Farage sought to bring together the different factions campaigning to leave the European Union in a vote to be held by the end of 2017, saying they were "on course to win".

An internal row on the sidelines of the conference, however, threatened to overshadow his speech, belying assertions of unity.

Farage stressed the importance of a positive message to counter Prime Minister David Cameron's argument that Britain should stay in the EU as long as it can secure a string of reforms on issues like welfare payments to EU nationals.

"We are together, we are united and I believe that the tide has turned," Farage told the UKIP conference at a racecourse in Doncaster, northern England.

"I think something is changing out there and I think we're on course to win the most historic and important political victory in any of our lifetimes."

In a nod to his campaign theme, Farage walked on stage to the 1986 pop hit by the band Europe: "The Final Countdown".

Before his speech, he predicted that Britain had a 50/50 chance of leaving the EU in the referendum, which some observers predict will be held in September next year, although the date has not been officially confirmed.

- 'Residual loyalties' -

Until recently, opinion polls suggested that those against a so-called "Brexit" were in the majority, but one poll earlier this month put the anti-EU camp ahead.

According to the poll by Survation on behalf of the right-wing Mail on Sunday newspaper, 43 percent said they would vote to leave the EU, compared to 40 percent who would stay, with 17 undecided.

UKIP has undergone a turbulent period since May's general election in which it lost one of its two House of Commons seats, failing to achieve a hoped-for breakthrough.

Farage himself quit as leader after failing to win a seat himself but then quickly returned to the post, prompting weeks of infighting.

Now the pub-loving politician is seeking to unite the string of separate factions who want Britain to leave the EU -- including one led by millionaire businessman and UKIP donor Arron Banks -- under a new group called "Leave.EU".

A row between Banks and the party's only MP, Douglas Carswell, pointed to fractures, however, with the parliamentarian claiming Banks had threatened to have him deselected as an MP if he failed to support Leave.EU.

Carswell is involved in a separate eurosceptic group, Business For Britain (BfB), but has refused to sign up to the broader campaign.

The row -- described by Banks as a "hissy fit in a corridor" -- prompted Farage to accuse Carswell of "residual loyalties" to the ruling Conservative party from which he defected.

In his speech Farage said the anti-EU camp needed to argue that Britain was "good enough to stand on our own two feet" and build free trade and cooperation with Europe outside the EU.

"The risk of voting to remain in this union is far greater than the risk of voting to take control of our borders and our lives," he added.