Ukip chief quits ... and Farage hints at another comeback
NIGEL Farage was last night poised for a comeback as Ukip started the search for its fifth leader in nine months.
The party was plunged into a fresh fight for survival after it got just 593,000 votes and failed to win any seats in the election, prompting leader Paul Nuttall to resign.
More than 3.2million people who supported the party in 2015 abandoned the party, sending its vote share tumbling from 12.6 to 1.8 per cent.
Mr Nuttall, who has failed to keep the party relevant after Brexit, conceded: ‘A new era must begin with a new leader.’
The former Ukip chairman Steve Crowther will serve as interim leader.
Mr Nuttall, who came third in Boston and Skegness, insisted Ukip was ‘more relevant than ever’ and would be the ‘guard dogs of Brexit’. Asked about a future role for Mr Farage, the MEP said: ‘If Nigel Farage wants to come back, I would be more than happy to do a job swap. I’ll take his slot on LBC and he can come back as leader of Ukip.’
Earlier, Mr Farage said he did not blame Mr Nuttall for the party’s poor showing. Asked on LBC radio about a comeback, he said: ‘Whether leading or playing a prominent role is perhaps a different question.’
Mr Nuttall’s bid to win Boston and Skegness was his sixth attempt to get into Parliament. Ukip hoped to make gains in the Lincolnshire seat, which yielded one of the highest votes for Leave in the EU referendum.
But the party’s share of the vote slid 26.1 per cent to 3,308 votes, while Labour’s rose by 8.5 per cent to 10,699 and the Tories’ by 19.8 per cent to 27,271.
The decline in the Ukip vote was seen across the country.
Ukip general secretary Jonathan Arnott announced his resignation in protest at the party’s election campaign and the ‘demonisation of Muslims’.
If Mr Farage became leader it would be his fifth time in charge of Ukip. He served as leader for three years from 2006 to 2009, before returning again in 2010.
After defeat in the 2015 general election, he stepped down for three days, but then changed his mind and led the party through the Brexit referendum.
In August last year, he handed over the leadership to Diane James, but she resigned after just 18 days and he took over again until Mr Nuttall was appointed leader in November.