Paul Nuttall was today unavailable for an interview on The Andrew Marr Show because he "had a trip booked" following his by-election loss to Labour in Stoke.
Ukip leader Paul Nuttall lost out to Gareth Snell by 7,853 votes to 5,233 in Brexit heartlands Stoke-on-Trent Central, where 69 per cent of the constituency voted Leave.
Speaking the on The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Ukip deputy leader Peter Whittle said: “He had a trip booked, as you might imagine, straight after the by-election and he wanted to break it but we insisted.
“Particularly after what he’d been through – we insisted that he go. So I’m afraid you’ve got me.”
Andrew Marr replied: “It’s very nice to have you here but if he had a trip booked, then presumably he assumed he wasn’t going to win the by-election?”
Peter Whittle, who ran as Ukip’s candidate for Mayor of London, reaffirmed Nuttall was on holiday: “No, no, he had a trip booked as quite often happens after by-elections.
“Given the gruelling time that he’d been through, and a particularly personal attack, we wanted him to rest up.”
Whittle added “there is absolutely no question” that Nuttall will continue as Ukip leader as he has “without question united the party” despite his “disappointing” loss in Stoke.
He denied Nuttall was ‘too inexperienced’ to have won but told Marr: “If there was one mistake we made, it was that maybe Paul shouldn’t have run so early, I accept that maybe, because he’s only been leader for 12 weeks.
“People hadn’t got to know him well enough I think. Without question Ukip has an appeal for patriotic, working class people.
“We didn’t win this time – there are many by-elections coming up.”
Paul Nuttall's campaign was dogged by controversy, including questions raised over his residency in the constituency, his admission that he had not lost close personal friends in the Hillsborough disaster despite contradictory claims on his website, and his failure to name one of the six pottery towns in the seat.
Following the result, Nuttall insisted “We are not going anywhere” - a statement which turned out to be truer than ever when the party discovered a car had not been booked for him to leave in and he had to be chaperoned away in a police car.
Nigel Farage had previously called the by-election “absolutely fundamental” for the future of Ukip.
