Having met Paul on several occasions, I can only concur that he is a genuinely impressive young man with a very good history of taking UKIP to his constituency and recruiting new members. I must emphasise that Paul's actual UKIP base is South Sefton - in which the parliamentary consitituency of Bootle is the safest seat in the entire country of any party (Lab) - refer to Wikipedia for figures. Paul has campaigned vigourously against the political inertia of the area and has definately made some headway with the electorate as he narrowly lost his deposit in 2005 General Election and finished 2nd in his most recent Local Election. One must appreciate the level of opposition to any other political entity in the Bootle area - they do still believe Labour as the working man's party and the voting patterns of the area are by and large handed down generation to generation. So for Nuttall to make the advances in the area that he has is very impressive.
I do feel that despite whatever misgivings people may have about his appointment and the lack of consultation with the NEC and the links with Farage, Nuttall and the party must demonstrate as much unity as possible in what is surely the most vital 12 months in the party's history. However, the infighting is surely a godsend for political commentators and the press who view UKIP as a mixture of frustrated Tories and moderate BNPers. Surely the fact that the only mainstream press UKIP have received recently is regarding Annabelle Fuller's resignation is proof that only the scandals interest the press, not policy.
I think Nuttall has a really tough job on his hands with the disunity in the party - he may do well if the rank and file give him a chance.
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