Only hours after he resigned as UKIP leader, Paul Nuttall has resigned from Twitter. Bye!
.@paulnuttallukip says he is standing down as leader of UKIP “with immediate effect” pic.twitter.com/SzhD7v13V2
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 9, 2017
Yet another UKIP leadership election. Nigel? Whittle? Raheem?
“I am not a Russian spy”: @Nigel_Farage says reports he is ‘person of interest’ in the FBI investigation into Trump and Russia are fake news pic.twitter.com/KH9Q6O8Sct
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) June 1, 2017
Channel 4 going somewhat OTT on the Moscow gold conspiracy…
Full statement from Nigel Farage following the Guardian’s claim that he is a person of interest in the FBI’s Trump / Russia investigation:
“This is fake news.
In response to the Guardian article, it has taken me a long time to finish reading because I am laughing so much.
This hysterical attempt to associate me with the Putin regime is a result of the liberal elite being unable to accept Brexit and the election of President Trump.
For the record I have never been to Russia, I’ve had no business dealings with Russia in my previous life and I have appeared approximately three times on RT in the last 18 months.
I consider it extremely doubtful that I could be a person of interest to the FBI as I have no connections to Russia.
My meeting with Julian Assange was organised for me by LBC Radio with a view to conducting an interview.”
The Guardian article makes clear Farage is not accused of wrongdoing and is not a suspect…
It’s unusual to see UKIP backing a Labour candidate, especially so when that Labour candidate is an arch-Remainer who voted against triggering Article 50. UKIP are not running in Wakefield and the party’s candidate in the neighbouring seat is instead urging voters to choose Mary Creagh over the Brexit-backing Tory. UKIP’s candidate in Normanton Lewis Thompson says:
“I’m urging the people of Wakefield to vote Labour. We can’t let the Tories get a huge majority.”
Wakefield is a winnable Tory target seat: the Labour majority is 2,613. Creagh is a huge Remainer, she said in February that she could no more vote against EU membership than she could vote against her “own DNA”. The Tory candidate Antony Calvert is an avowed Brexiter and the constituency voted 66% to Leave. UKIP’s councillors in Wakefield are backing Calvert, so why is their parliamentary candidate in Normanton backing Labour?
Perhaps the most surprising upshot from UKIP’s manifesto launch is that the party of Nigel Farage has made a pledge unlikely to be popular with the pub trade. The manifesto argues for the repeal of the 2003 Licensing Act, Blair’s ‘cafe culture’ law which brought in late opening hours, and appears to want to cut the number of pubs:
“To protect emergency workers from abuse, we will repeal the 2003 Licensing Act and bring in new legislation to reduce the density of alcohol outlets and restrict trading times.”
“Reduce the density of alcohol outlets”! What would Nigel say?
H/T Henry Mance
UKIP has fully weaponised the Manchester bombing to go after Theresa May, claiming that the PM must “bear some responsibility” for the attack. Suzanne Evans directly accused May of “allowing jihadists back into the country” – Salman Abedi recently returned from Libya – and argued that May and the EU had created the circumstances that allowed the attack to happen. She later reverse ferreted and said “the only people to blame are the terrorists”.
Shouty crackers UKIP supporters screamed at journalists to “get back in your hole”, making Corbynistas look sane by comparison. Chief snowflake William Dartmouth did his best Barry Gardiner impression, whinging that Laura K and the BBC are “fake news“.
The reaction to a question from BBC at UKIP manifesto launch pic.twitter.com/dAygSC0vbS
— Ross Kempsell (@rosskempsell) May 25, 2017
Lobby journalists were heard discussing “the worst ever UKIP launch”. The party’s few remaining supporters will love it but the event really was naff. Campaigning well back underway then…
Via ITV.
Correct decision from Paul Nuttall, who has decided UKIP will resume campaigning and launch their manifesto tomorrow:
“We are all horrified by the horrific events that took place in Manchester. Following those events it is right and proper that political parties suspended their campaigns for a short period as a mark of respect to those who lost their lives or suffered appalling injuries.
“But we cannot be cowed or allow our way of life to be undermined by those who wish to do us harm. These people hate the way we live, hate our freedom and hate our democracy.
“The best response we can make is to ensure that the democratic process continues and therefore I have decided that we must to go ahead with the launch of the UKIP general election manifesto tomorrow. For those who say that nothing must change, but then complain, it is by prolonging the disruption to normality that we allow the terrorists to win. Politics has never been more important, politicians must deal with these issues.”
From ban the burqa to ban the bomber…
Pic via @mrharrycole
UKIP’s press conferences this election have been very sparsely attended compared with previous campaigns. Last week their event on tax drew in a meagre crowd of four journalists, this morning’s presser on older people was attended by just three reporters. Only the most dedicated hacks have been in attendance as UKIP slides below the Greens in the polls…
Speaking of the Greens, this was their manifesto launch this morning. Safe to say it had a pretty low carbon footprint. The minor parties are fast losing appeal…
Sort it out, Nigel…
Will take that as a no…
The Tories have asked UKIP not to field a candidate in Hartlepool to try to help them win the seat from Labour. The incumbent Labour MP Iain Wright is standing down and leaves behind a precarious 3,024 majority. The Tory request to UKIP, sent by the Tory group leader on Hartlepool Council Ray Martin-Wells, asks:
“Following on from UKIP’s decision not to stand in Middlesborough South, Tynemouth and Berwick, we would respectfully ask you to withdraw your parliamentary candidate in Hartlepool… Hartlepool constituency polls are showing that UKIP has only a predicted 6% chance of winning, against Labour’s 34% and the Conservatives 50%… your chances of winning are extremely low…”
Is this an attractive proposition for UKIP? The UKIP candidate came second in Hartlepool in 2015, several thousand votes ahead of the Tories. It’s a council stronghold and a target parliamentary seat, where it was rumoured Paul Nuttall himself might have stood. And the “constituency polls” quoted by the Tories are only local newspaper surveys. Indeed, UKIP have rejected the proposal and instead suggested:
“I call upon you now to choose to do the decent thing and step aside yourselves…”
A real three way marginal…
Arron Banks’s favoured candidate in Clacton has quit UKIP after party HQ dropped him amid a storm over Muslim-bashing tweets. When Banks himself bottled standing in the seat back in April, he threw his support behind UKIP councilor Jeff Bray. Bray said on receiving the nomination:
“It didn’t hurt that I got the backing from Arron Banks after he decided not to stand. Arron came down here… he recognised we are doing a good job… He made the decision to back me, which was a huge honour.”
Bray’s selection has been a bit of a disaster after controversial tweets and a dodgy Facebook page were unearthed carrying his name:
Bray claimed he couldn’t remember the posts and suggested they had been manipulated, but today he has quit the party after he was dropped in favour of NEC member Paul Oakley. Bray said:
“I had the support of the local people and the national party have ignored this and chosen one of their own who told the meeting that all he knew about Clacton was that he had spent a holiday here when he was 10. The party has absolutely no chance of holding the seat.”
Arron’s man crashes and burns, UKIP have a mountain to climb in Clacton…
UKIP launched its immigration policy this morning pledging a “balanced migration” system which the party says would result in zero net immigration over the next five years. This puts clear water between UKIP and the Tories on the main issue where they can now distinguish themselves…
More pressingly, when asked by Guido about his accommodation arrangements in the Boston and Skegness constituency where he is standing, Paul Nuttall said:
“Firstly I haven’t bought a house in Boston and Skegness but nor did I buy a house in Stoke. And will I be staying in the constituency? Probably at some point, yeah.”
Nuttall’s pledge to “probably at some point” stay in the constituency comes after a house he listed as his home on his nomination form for the Stoke by-election was found empty Michael Crick. Hope Paul invites Guido round for a cuppa when he eventually finds a place…
“It’s over” says @DouglasCarswell, who was @UKIP‘s only MP. So far the party has lost all its seats #LE2017https://t.co/MpqIKinRuH pic.twitter.com/d22QTfe58k
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) 5 May 2017
Peak 😎 from Douglas…
The protesters who disrupted Paul Nuttall’s press conference this morning are die-hard Socialist Workers Party activists and their leader was embroiled in the notorious rape cover-up that blighted the hard-left group. Weyman Bennett led a small number of protesters who shouted and waved placards at UKIP’s campaign launch at the Marriott County Hall. The protesters did not deny their SWP background but told Guido: “A large number of groups are involved in Stand Up to Racism“. Asked if they were veteran agitators one joked: “It’s not my first protest”…
A member of the SWP’s central committee, Bennett was implicated in the cover-up of well-publicised rape allegations against an ultra-left ally referred to as “Comrade Delta“. The police were kept out, the accused was declared “ not guilty ” at the SWP national conference and the case led to Jeremy Corbyn being criticised for sharing a platform with Bennett.
Today Bennett and his fellow protesters shouted obscenities and chased away journalists covering the event, after UKIP’s patient press officers politely asked them to leave. Real nasty pieces of work…
Paul Nuttall tells Iain Dale he IS standing on June 8. Announcement on the seat in the next 48 hours…
He’s not standing in Clacton after all:
[…] Read the restI today met with all of the UKIP councillors in Clacton and senior party figures.
It was a constructive meeting and it was great to see everyone come together.
It’s clear that Douglas Carswell has been a hugely divisive figure and let a lot of people down in Clacton.
