One of the highest-profile Ukip candidates at the next General Election has sensationally resigned amid bizarre claims that the party had been "infiltrated by the occult".
Jake Baynes, 40, stood down alongside branch chairman Graham Livings after it emerged members of an "angelic healing group" were apparently causing havoc.
Mr Baynes was due to stand for the party in the Wells constituency, Somerset, in May but resigned claiming there was civil war within the party and a vendetta against him. He has now said he want "nothing more to do with politics."
Nigel Farage with Jake Baynes
Mr Livings, who pointed the finger at "an infiltration of occultists", blasted the group as "oddballs" and said the public were "very wary of that sort of thing".
But, two opposing leading members of Ukip in Somerset, Glenn and Colleen Tucker, dismissed the claims as "ridiculous".
The pair run a healing centre in Glastonbury, Somerset - which apparently claims divine intervention from the Archangel Michael.
Branch chairman, Mr Livings, said his and Mr Baynes' decision to resign was fuelled after The Glastonbury occult crowd "moved in."
"They are oddballs putting on these weekend retreats where they guarantee the angels will be present, and the public can be very wary of that sort of thing," he said.
Ukip has a prescribed list which states that no one who has been a member of the BNP or the English Defence League should be a member, he explained, but "when they sat down and wrote out the prescribed list, they wouldn't have thought to put occultists down."
"I'm nervous about the occult and many people I know who've seen that these people are involved in Ukip have said, 'well, I'm not voting Ukip with them in position',' he said.
"These people say that they take angelic guidance and defer in all things to St Michael the Archangel - and at the same time we're experiencing such vitriol and bile from them.
"I don't have to put up with it, so I am resigning."
Mr Baynes first hit the headlines five years ago when he and the local party refused to bow to pressure from Ukip's national executive not to field a candidate in the 2010 General Election.
But, despite his defiance, Mr Baynes was selected again by the Ukip Wells branch this spring, but said that within a day, a campaign from within his own party had begun against him.
Mr Baynes said that he did not believe "divine inspirations" had a "part to play in politics".
"I've realised politics is a very ugly, dirty business, and I want nothing more to do with it," he added.
The Tucker's, who run the Angelic Guidance and Healing Centre, in Glastonbury, Somerset, are two of the main campaigners, internally, against Mr Baynes.
Mr Tucker stood unsuccessfully as a Ukip candidate in the county council elections a couple of years ago, while Mrs Tucker is currently the Ukip Somerset treasurer.
They have accused Mr Baynes of not obeying Ukip rules and said they had reported him reported him to the national party chairman.
The pair described themselves as "stalwarts of the community in Glastonbury," and said the notion that they were in an occult was "ignorant".
"He accused us of being part of the occult, which is ridiculous. We're one of 110 members of the Angelic Reiki Association, and reiki healing is virtually mainstream," Mr Tucker said.
"He is confused, if he thinks it is an occult he really doesn't understand what we do. We are spiritual people."
Colleen added: "It is wonderful news that they have resigned but I feel a little but ridiculous about it all. It feels a bit like a hate campaign."