Paul Nuttall

Paul Andrew Nuttall (born 30 November 1976) is a British politician who has been the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) since November 2016. He has also served as an MEP for North West England since 2009.
Born in Bootle, Merseyside, Nuttall attended Savio High School and Hugh Baird College. He completed a HND in sports science at North Lincolnshire College before studying for a bachelor's degree in history at Edge Hill University. He then completed a master's degree at Liverpool Hope University, and began a PhD there in 2004, which he did not finish. He received a Certificate in Education from the University of Central Lancashire and lectured at Liverpool Hope from 2004 to 2006.
Initially a member of the Conservative Party, Nuttall stood as a candidate at local government level in Sefton. In 2004, he joined UKIP and contested the Bootle constituency for UKIP in the 2005 general election. From 2008 to 2009, he served as the founding secretary of Young Independence, and in September 2008 succeeded John Whittaker to the role of Chair of the UK Independence Party.
He was elected as an MEP for North West England in the 2009 European Parliament election, a position to which he was re-elected in the 2014 election. He contested the Bootle constituency again in the 2010 and 2015 general elections, as well as being UKIP's candidate in the 2011 Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election. Nuttall became Deputy Leader of UKIP in November 2010 and UKIP's Spokesperson for Education, Life Skills and Training in July 2014. He did not stand as a candidate in the September 2016 leadership election and renounced his position as Deputy Leader. However, he was a candidate in the November 2016 leadership election, which he won.

Born in Bootle in Merseyside, Nuttall was educated at Savio High School and completed his A-Levels at Hugh Baird College in Bootle. He completed a Higher National Diploma in Sports Science at North Lincolnshire College, before studying History at Edge Hill University, graduating with a BA, and at Liverpool Hope University where he specialised in Edwardian politics and graduated with an MA. He received a Certificate in Education from the University of Central Lancashire, and lectured at Liverpool Hope University between 2004 and 2006 after his graduation. In 2004, Nuttall started working towards a PhD into the 'History of Conservatism in Liverpool', but did not complete it. He is a practising Catholic.

As a footballer, he was a member of Tranmere Rovers' youth squad in the early 1990s, although he has repudiated claims made in one of his own press releases that he had played professionally for the team. In 2015, while appearing on BBC TV's Question Time, he stated that he was one of the survivors of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.

Nuttall grew up in Bootle during the 1980s. Influenced by this personal background, Nuttall has publicly stated that there is an urgent need for a challenge in England's politics in the early 21st century to the dominance of what he has described as "Cultural Marxism", which he accuses of "having changed the way we speak, and the way we think", adding: "They've made the downright nonsensical acceptable, and common sense unacceptable or politically 'incorrect'."

In 2002, as a member of the Conservative Party he stood unsuccessfully for a local council election in the Derby Ward during the Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council Election, gaining 11% of the vote.

In 2004, he defected from the Tories to join the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), and went on to form its South Sefton branch in 2005 to contest elections in North Merseyside.

In 2008, he became founding secretary of Young Independence, UKIP's fledgling youth wing for under-35 year olds, a position he held until Young Independence held its first internal elections at the 2009 UKIP Spring Conference having, in September 2008, been appointed Chairman of the UK Independence Party.

Nuttall was found to place 736th out of 756 MEPs in terms of attendance in the European Parliament, Nuttall defended his record in 2013, stating: "I have no interest sitting all day in Brussels committees enacting job-killing, democracy-destroying legislation inspired by the EU".

He announced in July 2016 that he would not stand in the September 2016 UKIP leadership election following the resignation of Nigel Farage and that he would step down as Deputy Leader of the party. In October 2016, Nuttall announced that he would run in the second UKIP leadership election of 2016, triggered when Diane James - winner of the first leadership election held earlier that year - announced she was to stand down after just 18 days as leader of the party.

On 28 November 2016 he became leader of the UK Independence Party with 62.2% of the vote.

Nuttall first stood for election as a Conservative candidate in the Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council election, 2002, where he finished second in the Derby ward, receiving 11.4% of the vote.

Nuttall contested the parliamentary seat of Bootle for UKIP at the 2005 general election, polling 4.1% of the vote.

At the 2008 local elections, Nuttall stood as a UKIP candidate for the Derby ward of Sefton Borough Council, achieving a 38% share of the vote, behind the Labour Party candidate whose party has held the seat since the Second World War. In 2009, Nuttall led UKIP's North West list and was elected to the European Parliament. At the 2010 general election, he contested Bootle for a second time and came fourth, polling 6.1% of the vote.

Following a High Court verdict declaring the 2010 general election result in Oldham East and Saddleworth null and void, Nuttall was selected to contest the by-election held in January 2011. Labour's candidate Debbie Abrahams held the seat, while Nuttall came fourth and increased the UKIP vote share by almost two percentage points, retaining his deposit.

In 2014, Nuttall was returned to the European Parliament at the European election and is currently one of two UKIP MEPs representing the constituency of North West England. In 2015, he once again contested Bootle, and came second behind Labour, with a 10.9% vote share.

Nuttall is standing as a UKIP candidate for the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election, 2017. He has been investigated for possibly fraudulent claims that he was living in a house in Stoke on Trent, which was discovered to be empty and still advertised to rent, when he filed his nomination papers.

Nuttall speaking in 2009

In March 2015 Nuttall, a practising Catholic, stated that "Twelve per cent of Catholics have already indicated that they are going to vote, or have already voted, UKIP. On moral issues, we, more than any other political party, are more in line with Catholic thought. Whether it's on gender-choice, abortion or same-sex marriage, we are absolutely 100 per cent behind the Catholic Church."

During his leadership bid in 2016, Nuttall pitched himself as the unity candidate and has made Suzanne Evans co-deputy chairwoman of the party and Patrick O'Flynn as his principal political advisers. Nuttall has vowed to "replace the Labour Party in the next five years and become the patriotic party of the working people".

Nuttall has called for the establishment of an English Parliament and presented UKIP's new devolution policy at its annual conference at Eastbourne in September 2011.

Abortion

Nuttall suggested in October 2016 that the current time limit on abortion be cut down from 24 weeks to 12 weeks. He has also criticised advertisements for abortion clinics, explaining that "Advertising abortion trivialises what is in reality killing an unborn child and the potential psychological implications for the mother are well documented. Killers such as Ian Brady and Ian Huntley have their 'human rights' and did not face the death penalty for taking the lives of children. Who is to defend the unborn child faced with a death sentence?"

Nuttall is a member of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, United Kingdom's largest pro-life organisation founded in January 1967.

British "Independence Day"

Nuttall is a supporter of observing a British Independence Day within the United Kingdom on 23 June annually. On 28 April 2016 he directly addressed U.S. President Barack Obama, publicly stating; "Don't try to block our Independence day, Mr Obama". On 23 June 2016, Nuttall said: "This is Independence Day!" with reference to the Brexit result being announced.

Burqa ban

Nuttall favours a ban on wearing burqas in public places, citing the use of video surveillance and security as the primary reason for this stance, as well as being opposed to the establishment of Sharia courts to operate alongside the UK Court system. He has also accused the EU's migration laws as allowing for the "free movement of jihad".

Capital punishment

Nuttall is a signatory to an e-petition calling for the reintroduction of the death penalty for convicted child and serial killers.

Climate change

A climate change denier, Nuttall has argued for Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth to be banned from schools, calling it "a blatant piece of propaganda". He has also accused the BBC of promoting "propaganda" on climate change.

LGBT rights

Following a 2011 High Court ruling on the case of Peter and Hazelmary Bull, who refused a gay couple service in their guesthouse due to their Christian beliefs against homosexuality, Nuttall claimed the decision was a "good week for the PC brigade", saying that "What a complete joke. Aren't people allowed to live by their religious beliefs in the country anymore?" Nuttall has also opposed Labour's plans to include LGBT-inclusive sex and relationship education in schools in 2015, stating that "Rather than helping tackle problems of domestic violence and rape in future years, as given as another woolly reason for introduction, it is going to confuse and worry these little children". Upon becoming UKIP leader, Nuttall faced criticism from Daily Politics presenter Jo Coburn over a lack of diversity in his appointments of all-white men to prominent positions within UKIP. Nuttall accused Coburn of "splitting hairs" as "I've literally appointed three people. If you want diversity, Peter Whittle, my deputy, is an open homosexual."

UKIP peerages

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Nuttall has said that it was "obscene and unfair" that no UKIP politician had been appointed to the House of Lords by the government. He has promised to hold inter-party talks with Theresa May on the issue, saying that, if peerages were given in proportion to vote count in the 2015 general election, UKIP should have 26 Lords.

United States presidential election, 2016

Before the US Presidential election of 2016, Nuttall stated repeatedly that if he were an American citizen: "I would hold my nose and vote for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate".

Since the election, he has been supportive of the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, saying that Obama "quite frankly had no time for" Britain due to "his heritage with Kenya and imperialism". He added that "Now Trump is elected... It is quite good for Britain. He was a supporter of Brexit", and that "Neither the Brexit vote nor the Trump victory was down to emotion rather than truth. They were down to the people realising the truth that the establishment was not acting in their best interests."

Views on the NHS

In 2014, Nuttall said: "I would like to congratulate the coalition government for bringing a whiff of privatisation into the beleaguered National Health Service", and argued that "the very existence of the NHS stifles competition, and as competition drives quality and choice, innovation and improvements are restricted. Therefore, I believe, as long as the NHS is the 'sacred cow' of British politics, the longer the British people will suffer with a second rate health service." He also previously called the NHS "a monolithic hangover from days gone by", adding that "fortunately shall I say, we are becoming an older population and quite frankly I would like to see more free market introduced into the health service."

He subsequently moved to revisit his earlier comments, saying that he only wanted elements of the NHS (such as procurement) to be privatised in order to "streamline" the service and upon becoming party leader, Nuttall told Andrew Marr on the Sunday Politics that "Maybe at some point, in years to come within this century we'll have to have this debate [over NHS privatisation,] but it won't be under my leadership in UKIP". Following his 2016 UKIP leadership win, he has said that his party will be “committed to keeping the NHS in public hands and free at the point of delivery”.

Speaking in the run up to the Stoke Central by-election Nuttall wrote in an Express article that "Let me make one thing crystal clear: in 2011 I did speak about what I saw back then as the need for more competition in the NHS via private sector involvement in things such as procurement and extending patient choice. In doing so I was merely reflecting the political debate at the time after first Labour under Blair and then the coalition under Cameron had tried to stimulate competition within the NHS. Well, I hold my hands up. I was quite simply wrong to think that either Blair or Brown’s Labour or Cameron’s Conservatives were on to something. It didn’t work. It meant the NHS was constantly being reorganised and dedicated professionals were not trusted to get on with what they do best: delivering high quality care.

So I was proud to stand at the last general election on a manifesto that included a fully costed and independently audited pledge to plough £3billion a year extra into the NHS and another £1.2billion into adult social care.The truth is that Ukip has never stood on an agenda of privatising the NHS and we never will. We are a party whose members and voters tend to be people who have paid into the national insurance pot for many years."

Vladimir Putin and the Syrian civil war

On foreign policy, Nuttall said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "is pretty much a nasty man" and that he was "not a fan" of Putin's "reprehensible" persecution of Russian journalists. However, Nuttall said that in "the Middle East, I think [Vladimir Putin] is generally getting it right ... We need to bring the conflict in Syria to an end as fast as possible." Nuttall has also said Britain "got it wrong" in "helping the so-called rebels" in the Syrian civil war. Asked about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's barrel bombing of Syrian civilians, Nuttall said: "I wouldn't say we are some paragon of virtue when it comes to backing dictators" and that the Assad regime, which Russia is supporting militarily, is not "a threat to the globe in the way that Islamic terrorism is".

Nicola Sturgeon comments

Paul Nuttall courted controversy on social media due to a tweet he made in the context of the Scottish National Party wishing to vote on foxhunting legislation which affected only England and Wales. Referencing the death of suffragette martyr Emily Davidson, Nuttall said that,

Tuesday is Emmeline Pankhurst Day, and whilst I am not going to throw myself in front of a horse to make my point about British democracy on this occasion, this is a vitally important constitutional matter and perhaps we should throw Sturgeon in front of a hunt horse as part of the commemorations.

An SNP spokesperson said: "Even by UKIP's standards this is a deeply crass comment. Political debate should be conducted in a respectful manner ... On Emmeline Pankhurst Day [Nicola Sturgeon] will be in London make a strong, positive argument for a fairer economy."

Nuttall is one of UKIP's media spokespeople and frequently appears on national radio, including BBC Radio 5 Live and Talksport. He has appeared several times on BBC One's Question Time and BBC Radio 4's Any Questions?. He has had a somewhat stormy relationship with the Liverpool Echo who had recycled a user description of him as a "Bad Bootle meff".