A senior Ukip figure has questioned the party's failure to win South Thanet in the general election, where party leader Nigel Farage was the candidate.

MEP Patrick O’Flynn fired a broadside at Mr Farage in an interview with The Times, describing him as a “snarling, thin-skinned aggressive man” who was making the party look like a personality cult.

In a sign that the party is descending into increasingly bitter recriminations over its election performance, Mr O’Flynn queried why the party had failed to win South Thanet.

He said: “The team around Nigel himself need to reflect why it was that Thanet voted in a Ukip council but didn’t vote in Nigel as MP for South Thanet.”

The party’s vote in the general election in Kent overall rose by a staggering 400% since 2010 and it has taken outright control of Thanet council.

And in a further unwelcome development, the Kent-based Ukip party donor Stuart Wheeler, who owns Chilham Castle, intervened to say he wanted Mr Farage to stand aside.

He said: "If he wants to put himself up in an election then he has every right to do so though I personally would prefer someone else now."

Nationally, Ukip took nearly 4 million votes but returned only one MP - Douglas Carswell in Clacton.

"Snarling, thin-skinned aggressive man..." - Paul O'Flynn on Nigel Farage

But Mr Farage lost in his chosen seat to the Conservative Craig Mackinlay by 2,822 votes.

The party is now facing criticism over its inability to capture other seats, and the decision by Nigel Farage to continue as leader after the party’s NEC rejected his resignation has raised eyebrows.

Cllr Roger Latchford, the leader of Kent County Council opposition Ukip group and Thanet councillor, defended Mr Farage.

He said: “I am thrilled he is carrying on. Frankly, a party leader who has got 4 million votes has not failed. He is a natural leader. In my eyes, it is the right decision to carry on. He is an incredibly hard worker.”

Piers Wauchope, who was Ukip’s candidate in North Thanet, said: “It would concern me if the party was degenerating into a series of recriminations but not if this is just he opinion of one man.”