PAUL Nuttall, who believes Scottish MPs should be banned from the House of Commons and once “joked” about throwing Nicola Sturgeon in front of a horse, has promised to “promote the English” as Ukip leader, after winning 62.6 per cent of the vote in what was his party’s second leadership contest this year.
In the four months the party have now spent trying to find a replacement for Nigel Farage, there have been fist fights, multiple resignations and allegations of bullying and financial impropriety.
But Nuttall said he would seek to unify the party, before promptly warning those who might not want unity that their “time in Ukip is coming to an end”.
He told the party faithful during his acceptance speech: “My call for unity has now received the biggest mandate in the history of our party. And my new team will ensure that that mandate is swiftly put into effect.”
The MEP for North West England replaced Diane James, who was the last permanent leader. Her reign at the top lasted just 18 days before she quit in a mixture of disgust and distrust of her parliamentary colleagues. She has since left the party.
Farage took over as a temporary chief, fitting in the duties of managing the dysfunctional party while vying for a place as the UK’s ambassador to Trump Tower.
He was in London yesterday to formally hand over to Nuttall, who promised to make his predecessor president of Ukip.
Nuttall said: “Whilst we as a party believe in the United Kingdom and are Unionists to our fingertips, under my leadership we will champion a fair devolution deal for England and we will promote the English. I say this because there is a value that unites that vast majority of British people away from the small metropolitan clique, and that value is patriotism.”
Nuttall signalled that he has Jeremy Corbyn in his sights and believes Ukip could take votes away from Labour in their traditional working-class heartlands. “I want to replace the Labour Party and make Ukip the patriotic party of the UK,” he said, receiving a standing ovation.
Just last week, Nuttall told a right-wing, pro-Brexit newspaper that he felt “very passionately that we need an English Parliament”.
He added: “It is clearly wrong that Scots should vote on English-only matters and it is time they were removed from the House of Commons, which should become the English Parliament.”
He called for the Lords to be replaced by a senate, where politicians representing the four nations would meet.
He said: “I just think we should hand over maximum revenue-raising powers to Scotland, get rid of the Barnett Formula and tell them to get on with funding their own services.”
In a blog post for the Huffington Post last year, the new Ukip boss had said “we should throw Sturgeon in front of a hunt horse as part of the commemorations” for Emmeline Pankhurst Day, after she said SNP MPs could vote on a ban on fox hunting in England and Wales.
Despite rumours of what one source called a “chilly” relationship between Nuttall and David Coburn, Ukip’s man in Scotland said he thought his colleague’s election was an “excellent thing”.
He added: “Paul and I have discussed what’s happening with Scotland and the future of the parliaments and we’re more or less one on these issues. I think he cares a lot about sorting out the problem that we have of devolution and that is important to make sure that everything works well. “ SNP MEP Alyn Smith was scathing of the new leadership team: “This is the latest in a series of deckchair manoeuvres on the Ukip Titanic. You would have thought after winning their referendum in England they would be a lot happier than they seem to be. Ukip is a busted flush, an empty party with nothing to offer anyone except the politics of division and spite.”
Jon Trickett MP, Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator, said Mr Nuttall favoured privatising the NHS, adding: “A vote for them is a vote against the health service as we know it.”
LibDem leader Tim Farron said it likely Farage would be “back in the leadership after a few weeks”.
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