Lessons From Bootle

POLITICAL campaign skills picked up on the streets of Bootle will help form the centrepiece of the UK Independence Party’s strategy for the 2009 Euro elections.

Merseyside-born Paul Nuttall 32, Who is the youngest chairman of the party since it was created in 1993, hopes his youthful enthusiasm can push UKIP the largest Libertarian party in the UK to new heights.He wants to replicate the party’s electoral success in his home-town of Bootle to more than double its current nine MEPs to 20.

Mr Nuttall hopes to be one of them, topping the party’s candidacy list in the North West for the elections, having taken the place of retiring academic John Whittaker.

In 2006, he stood in Bootle’s Derby ward and took 21% of the vote, rising to the 38% he took this year.While he was in second place both times, he believes UKIP will take the seat in the next local elections in 2010.

He claims the secret to the increase in votes is a combination of hard work and “letting people know the facts”, telling people that many of the things they are unhappy about are driven by the demands of the EU. “More than 3,000 working groups [in the EU] will dictate 75% of the laws of our country,” he says.

The former Savio High School pupil has spent the past two years working in the European Parliament researching and learning the intricacies of the organisation, having previously lectured on politics.Since being made chairman of UKIP in September, he is now based again in the UK, living in Liverpool’s Hatton Garden with his wife, Linda, a PR expert who works in Manchester. “In many ways, I am pro- European. I have lived in Barcelona and Brussels, I just don’t like the EU.”

He says Britain’s ability to act independently in the world in order to best serve its citizens is severely hindered by its membership of the EU. “I think Britain would be better off out. If you like the EU you can vote for the other three parties. If you don’t like it then there is only one show in town.”

He baulks at the suggestion the party shares similar territory to that of the far-right party BNP, which many fear will gain a seat in the North West in the coming election.

“That’s bonkers. We have got nothing in common with the BNP.

“Yes, we do want to control immigration, but the issue is about space, not race like the BNP. “Race is not an issue with UKIP, we are a libertarian political party – live and let live.”

His passion for politics was fostered while studying history at Edge Hill, and he is currently working towards a PhD – although it’s deferred at the moment.In common with many UKIP members, he originally joined the Conservative Party, but defected in 2004 because of their “duplicitous” attitude towards Europe.

His political hero is Joseph Chamberlain, because he changed 19th century politics, realising the power of the mass media and professionalising it, says Mr Nuttall.

“He smashed the Liberals, and he smashed the Tories over free trade and protectionism. “He just had style as well,” he says, confessing he is also passionate about sartorial elegance, owning more than 300 ties.