Defiant Ukip leader denies party crisis

UKIP is not in crisis, its leader Paul Nuttall declared yesterday as he hit back at criticism from the party’s best-known figures in a defiant speech.

Mr Nuttall warned against “panic” and “navel-gazing” as he spoke for the first time since his by-election defeat in Stoke triggered a new party civil war.

He rejected warnings from his predecessor Nigel Farage over the party’s direction, saying that Ukip of last June’s referendum. “I’ve read this week in many news outlets that Ukip is in crisis. Well, I’m an old hand … I’ve read Ukip’s obituary over 100 occasions,” Mr Nuttall said at a regional party conference in Weymouth.

“We’re a bit like a boomerang. You can throw us away and we always come back.”

Mr Nuttall admitted feeling “bruised” after losing the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election to Labour. But he said the “real reason” the party did not win was because the Tory vote had not come to Ukip, and that with hindsight that should not have been surprising. In an article in today’s

Mr Nuttall also rejects criticism of his leadership. “My policies and perspective has always been radical,” he writes.

“I made my views known in my leadership bid and the huge mandate the membership gave me as a result ensures that I call the shots.”

In his speech Mr Nuttall made no mention of Douglas Carswell, Ukip’s only MP who is facing calls to be sacked over claims he blocked Mr Farage’s knighthood. However in an interview to be aired today, he defends Mr Nuttall over his role in the row and says the party’s board should decide his fate.