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Ukip's Paul Nuttall 'not going anywhere' despite Stoke byelection failure Paul Nuttall 'not going anywhere' as Farage questions Stoke strategy
(about 4 hours later)
Paul Nuttall has insisted he is “not going anywhere” after Ukip’s failure to win a byelection in Stoke-on-Trent Central raised questions about his claim that his party is well-placed to steal working-class votes from Labour. Paul Nuttall dismissed the idea he might step down in the wake of a disappointing result in his first byelection as Ukip leader, as Nigel Farage and other senior figures questioned whether he was distinctive enough on immigration.
Asked by reporters whether his inability to take the seat meant that he should step down, Nuttall said: “No, I’m only 12 weeks in. Come on, give me a break. Nuttall said he was “not going anywhere” after failing to unseat Labour in Stoke-on-Trent Central, where he finished just 79 votes ahead of the third-placed Conservative candidate.
“We’ve unified the party, we’ll go forward. Ukip’s moving forward and this will happen. This seat was 72 on our target list, there is a lot more to come from us. We are not going anywhere – we move on. There are other issues beyond Brexit. Lots more seats will happen where we will have more success in the future.” In Copeland, the Cumbrian seat taken by the Conservatives in another byelection, Ukip’s vote dropped by 9% on the general election, boosting Theresa May’s hopes that the Tories can replace Nuttall’s party as the major threat to Labour in its heartlands.
Ukip came second in Stoke-on-Trent Central, increasing its share of the vote by 2% and holding the Conservatives in the third place they took at last year’s general election. But Nuttall had gambled that standing in Stoke would show his party’s strength in a city labelled Britain’s Brexit capital because of its 70% leave vote at last year’s referendum. Asked by reporters whether he was thinking about quitting, Nuttall said: “No, I’m only 12 weeks in. Come on, give me a break.”
In Copeland, the Cumbrian seat taken by the Conservatives, Ukip’s vote dropped by 9% on the general election, boosting Theresa May’s hopes that the Tories can replace Nuttall’s party as the major threat to Labour in its heartlands. However, the result has reopened splits within Ukip, which under Nuttall has sought to moderate some of its policies and stances, part of his ambition to challenge Labour.
The loss comes after Nigel Farage told Nuttall at Ukip’s spring conference this month that victory in Stoke was crucial to the future of the party.“I don’t think anybody for one moment can underplay just how important, just how fundamental, that byelection is for the futures of both the Labour party and indeed of Ukip too – it matters and it matters hugely,” the former party leader said. Farage, the longtime leader who has since attached himself ideologically to Donald Trump, told Sky News the Stoke result was disappointing, and the party “could have been clearer on immigration”.
Targeting working-class Labour voters was a key part of Nuttall’s bid for the Ukip leadership in December, and he said during the byelection campaign that he was “facing down a Labour party that has more in common with Stoke Newington than Stoke-on-Trent.” EXC Nigel Farage tells me Ukip message in Stoke "could have been clearer on immigration" and was too mainstream
Instead, his campaign was rocked by a series of scandals, in particular an admission, after an investigation by the Guardian that he had not lost close family members in the Hillsborough stadium disaster as his website had claimed. The theme was echoed by Bill Etheridge, one of Ukip MEPs for the West Midlands region, who said Nuttall had been poorly advised in seeking to take Labour on their own ideological territory, rather than keeping the party’s reputation as a radical voice.
Etheridge said he hoped Nuttall would pursue a “Farage-ist approach” from now on, saying he was disappointed at the Stoke result.
“I’m 100% supportive of Paul continuing as the leader, but I believe there is room for us to be more of a challenging, radical, rightwing party, with libertarian values at the forefront, which I think have got obscured of late,” he said.
“Maybe some of Paul’s advisers have led him down a dead end on this. We are all going to back Paul, but hopefully we’ll win the argument for the party to get back to its real roots, of challenging authority and a sort of Farage-ist approach to the future.”
Nuttall’s team in Stoke included Suzanne Evans, Ukip’s head of policy, Patrick O’Flynn, another MEP, and Lisa Duffy, a former leadership candidate, all of whom are on the wing of the party pushing for a more modern outlook.
Diane James, who succeeded Farage last year before quitting after 18 days, said the party was united but also criticised Nuttall’s team.
“Now I think he has got to face the decision which is that maybe some of those individuals need to be moved aside, moved to different roles, so that a repeat of what happened in Stoke – which did represent very, very high potential for the party to do well – doesn’t happen again,” she told Sky News.
The comments illustrate how the top of Ukip remains split between modernisers, keen to challenge Labour on issues such as NHS spending, and more traditional elements, who prefer a robust approach on areas such as immigration and crime.
Added to this was the pressure from some to follow Farage in embracing the more brash tone and hard right policies of Trump.
Another senior Ukip figure, who asked to not be named said: “You’ve constantly got people pushing that kind of idea. And it’s difficult to get away with, as Nigel is saying this on a daily basis.”
They said that while Nuttall could have done more to dampen expectations about Stoke, he was not under threat as leader. “There’s no appetite for challenging Paul, not least as we’ve got no one else to replace him.”
Nuttall remained defiant after the Stoke result, saying: “We’ve unified the party, we’ll go forward.
“Ukip’s moving forward and this will happen. This seat was 72 on our target list, there is a lot more to come from us. We are not going anywhere – we move on. There are other issues beyond Brexit. Lots more seats will happen where we will have more success in the future.”
Farage had told Nuttall at Ukip’s spring conference this month that victory in Stoke was crucial to the future of the party.
“I don’t think anybody for one moment can underplay just how important, just how fundamental, that byelection is for the futures of both the Labour party and indeed of Ukip too – it matters and it matters hugely,” he said.
Nuttall’s campaign was rocked by a series of scandals, in particular an admission, after an investigation by the Guardian, that he had not lost close family members in the Hillsborough stadium disaster as his website had claimed.
Arron Banks, the party’s key financial backer and a supporter of Nuttall, appeared to compound the party’s woes when he stood by comments that he was “sick to death” of hearing about Hillsborough.Arron Banks, the party’s key financial backer and a supporter of Nuttall, appeared to compound the party’s woes when he stood by comments that he was “sick to death” of hearing about Hillsborough.
Two party officials in Liverpool subsequently resigned as a result of the controversies and some canvassers in Stoke said it had come up on the doorstep. Two party officials in Liverpool resigned as a result of the controversies and some canvassers in Stoke said it had come up on the doorstep.
Ukip has been in turmoil over the past 12 months despite being on the winning side in the EU referendum. Its most famous frontman, Farage, resigned from the leadership, only to subsequently return as a stand-in last autumn when Diane James, his successor, stepped down just weeks into the job.
Questions will now be raised about whether Nuttall is up to the task that he set himself. After the count in Stoke-on-Trent Central he insisted: “Ukip’s time will come.”