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Nigel Farage resignation: Ukip MEP Paul Nuttall most likely candidate to take over as leader

The MEP for the North West of England used Nigel Farage's resignation as an opportunity to discuss his own career progression within the party

Monday 04 July 2016 11:23 BST

Paul Nuttall celebrating the victory of 'Leave' in the EU referendum at the Manchester Town Hall

Ukip MEP Paul Nuttall appears to be the most likely front runner to replace Nigel Farage as leader of the party.

Following Mr Farage’s shock resignation on Monday morning, Mr Nuttall gave an interview to the press to discuss his own career progression within the party.

The deputy leader and MEP for the North West of England said that Labour party’s collapse would give Ukip a great opportunity to build ground and transform public opinion towards Ukip.

His unifying presence within the party makes him the most likely leader, unlike MP Douglas Carswell and Suzanne Evans, whose divisive opinions have resulted in friction between party members in recent months.

Steven Woolfe, Ukip MEP and Spokesman on Migration and Financial Affairs, and MEP for the South West of England Diane James, have also been named as potential candidates.

London mayoral candidate Peter Whittle was initially thought to be in the running, but ruled himself out shortly after Farage’s resignation.

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

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1/12Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he unveiled that 'breaking point' poster during the referendum

Mr Farage was accused of deploying “Nazi-style propaganda” when he unveiled a poster showing Syrian refugees travelling to Europe under the next “Breaking point”. Users on social media were quick to compare the advert to a Nazi propaganda film with similar visuals and featuring Jewish refugees. The poster was particularly controversial because it was unveiled the morning of the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox

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Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he said he’d be concerned if his neighbours were Romanian

In May 2014 Mr Farage was accused of a “racial slur” against Romanians after he suggested he would be concerned living next to a house of them. “I was asked if a group of Romanian men moved in next to you, would you be concerned? And if you lived in London, I think you would be,” he told LBC radio during an interview. Asked whether he would also object to living next to German children, he said: “You know the difference”

Bongarts/Getty Images

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he said the EU campaign was won 'without a bullet being fired'

Nigel Farage has said the next Prime Minister has to be a Leave supporter

AFP/Getty

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he resigned as Ukip leader and came back days later

After failing to win the seat of South Thanet at the general election, Nigel Farage stepped down as Ukip leader – as he had promised to do during the campaign. Days later on 11 May he “un-resigned” and said he would stay after being convinced by supporters within the party. We’ll see how long his resignation lasts this time

AP/Matt Dunham

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he blamed immigrants for making him late

Mr Farage turned up late to a £25-a-head ‘meet the leader’ style event in Port Talbot, Wales in December 2014. Asked why he was late, he blamed immigrants. “It took me six hours and 15 minutes to get here - it should have taken three-and-a-half to four,” he said. “That has nothing to do with professionalism, what it does have to do with is a country in which the population is going through the roof chiefly because of open-door immigration and the fact that the M4 is not as navigable as it used to be”

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Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he wanted to ban immigrants with HIV from Britain

Mr Farage has used his platform as Ukip leader call for people with HIV to be banned from coming to Britain. Asked in an interview with Newsweek Europe in October 2014 who he thought should be allowed to come to the UK, he said: “People who do not have HIV, to be frank. That’s a good start. And people with a skill.” He also repeated similar comments in the 2015 general election leadership debates

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Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he defended the use of a racial slur against Chinese people

Defending one of Ukip’s candidates, who used the word “ch**ky” to describe a Chinese person, Mr Farage said: “If you and your mates were going out for a Chinese, what do you say you're going for?" When he was told by the presented that he “honestly would not” use the slur, Mr Farage replied: “A lot would”

Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he said parts of Britain were ‘like a foreign land’

The Ukip leader used his 2014 conference speech to declare parts of Britain as being “like a foreign land”. He told his audience in Torquay that parts of the country were “unrecognisable” because of the number of foreigners there. Mr Farage has also previously said he felt uncomfortable when people spoke other language on a train

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Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he said the British army should be deployed to France

At the height of trouble at Britain’s Calais border Mr Farage proposed a novel solution. The Ukip leader called for the British army to be sent to France to put down a migrant rebellion. “In all civil emergencies like this we have an army, we have a bit of a Territorial Army as well and we have a very, very overburdened police force and border agency,” he said. “If in a crisis to make sure we’ve actually got the manpower to check lorries coming in, to stop people illegally coming to Britain, if in those circumstances we can use the army or other forces then why not”

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Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he said breastfeeding women should ‘sit in the corner’

Mr Farage sparked protests from mothers after he told women to “sit on the corner” if they wanted to breastfeed their children. “I think that given that some people feel very embarrassed by it, it isn’t too difficult to breastfeed a baby in a way that's not openly ostentatious,” Mr Farage said. He added: "Or perhaps sit in the corner, or whatever it might be”

AFP/Getty Images

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he said the gender pay gap exists because women are ‘worth less’

At a Q&A on the European Union in January 2014 Mr Farage said there was no discrimination against women causing the gender pay gap. Instead, he said, women were paid less because they were simply “worth far less” than many of their male counterparts. “A woman who has a client base, has a child and takes two or three years off - she is worth far less to her employer when she comes back than when she went away because that client base won't be stuck as rigidly to her portfolio,” he said

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Nigel Farage's most controversial moments

When he said he actually couldn’t guarantee £350m to the NHS after Brexit

During the EU referendum campaign the Leave side pledged to spend £350 million a week on the National Health Service – claiming that this is what the UK sends to Brussels. Nigel Farage didn’t speak out against this figure and also pledged to spend EU cash on the health service and other public services himself. Then the day of the election result he suddenly changed his tone, saying he couldn’t guarantee the cash for the NHS and that to pledge to do so was “a mistake”

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Douglas Carswell, the party’s only MP, told the BBC that the chances of his standing as leader were "somewhere between nil and zero".

Sources say Suzanne Evans is unlikely to throw her hat in the ring, since she is ineligible for the leadership race after being disciplined by Ukip and losing her role as Deputy leader.

During a speech in London on Monday, Mr Farage, who was elected as an MEP for the party in 1999, said he had never wanted to be a career politician and was standing down.

Farage resigns as Ukip leader

“I now feel that I’ve done my bit, that I couldn’t possibly achieve more,” the 52-year-old added.

After two stints as party leader, Mr Farage said: “I won’t be changing my mind again, I assure you”.

“I have decided to stand aside as leader of Ukip. The victory for the Leave side in the referendum means that my political ambition has been achieved. I came into this business because I wanted us to a self-governing nation, not to become a career politician.”

Mr Carswell reacted to Mr Farage’s announcement by sharing a smiling emoji with sunglasses on Twitter. The MP for Clacton-on-Sea has famously bad relations with the party leader and called on Mr Farage to resign last year.

Just last week Mr Farage suggested Mr Carswell could be removed from the party. Speaking about the MP on LBC radio, Mr Farage said: “What would he know?”

“We find somebody inside our party who doesn't agree with anything the party stands for, it's a very odd state of affairs.”

His comments came after Mr Carswell attacked the former party leader over his controversial “Breaking Point” posters.

Mr Farage had previously announced his resignation in May 2015, after he failed to win a seat in the Commons – only to change his mind days later.

Mr Carswell told The Spectator's Coffee House blog: “I’m inconsolable. Nigel deserves a lot of credit for getting the referendum and I wish him well.”

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