Paul Nuttall elected leader of UKIP in landslide victory

Paul Nuttall - Image credit: European Parliament

Paul Nuttall has been elected as the new leader of UKIP, taking over from interim leader Nigel Farage after a period of turbulence for the party.

The MEP for North West England and former deputy leader comfortably saw off the competition to win 62.6 per cent of the more than 15,000 members who voted.

Second placed was former co-chair Suzanne Evans, who got 2,973 votes (19.3 per cent), with Welsh activist John Rees-Evans in third place with 2,775 votes (18.1 per cent).

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In his victory speech Nuttall said: "Only unity breeds success. People do not vote, join or donate to divided parties. 

"So those within the party who want to come together and unite I say 'we have a great and successful future'.

"To those who do not want to unify and want to continue fighting the battles of the past, then I'm afraid your time in UKIP is coming to an end."

The contest was triggered after Diane James resigned as leader earlier this month, just 18 days into the job following her victory at the last race in September.

Nuttall was the clear favourite in the contest from the moment he declared his bid and positioned himself as the “unity” candidate hoping to smooth over fractious rows in the party.

He launched his campaign after MEP Steven Woolfe quit UKIP and dropped out of the race following an altercation with colleague Mike Hookem landed him in hospital.

The race also saw fellow MEP Bill Etheridge, London Assembly member Peter Whittle and Raheem Kassam, a former aide to Nigel Farage, put themselves forward only to withdraw later.

Nuttall now faces a fight to keep UKIP relevant in the aftermath of the EU referendum and amid dire financial circumstances after the party received less in donations than the BNP in the last reported period.

The central tenet of his plan is to win further votes from former Labour supporters after UKIP made major inroads in Labour heartlands at the last election.

Elsewhere, Mr Nuttall has said he would back the return of the death penalty for child killers if it were put to the country in a referendum.

“I would vote in favour of the return of the death penalty for people who kill children, people like Ian Brady, people like Ian Huntley, which is what the majority of British people want,” he said earlier this month.