Paul Nuttall
Paul Andrew Nuttall is a British politician who has been the Deputy Chairman of Reform UK since July 2025. He served as Leader of the UK Independence Party from 2016 to 2017. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2009 as a UK Independence Party candidate, and served as a Member of the European Parliament for North West England until 2019, sitting in the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group. He left UKIP in December 2018, criticising the party's association with far-right activist Tommy Robinson, and joined the Brexit Party, later Reform UK, in 2019.
Nuttall was a Conservative Party candidate in a council election in Sefton before joining UKIP in 2004. He became deputy leader of UKIP, deputising for Nigel Farage, in November 2010 and the party's spokesperson for education, life skills and training in July 2014. He was elected party leader in the November 2016 leadership election. Nuttall stood unsuccessfully for UKIP six times in parliamentary elections between 2005 and 2017, of which his best result was finishing second in the 2017 Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election. He resigned as party leader after coming third in Boston and Skegness in the 2017 general election, with his party losing most of its electoral support.
A prominent Eurosceptic, Nuttall has also called for the establishment of an English parliament. He favours a ban on wearing burqas in public places, opposes abortion, has shown support for the reintroduction of the death penalty, opposed Labour's 2015 plans to include LGBT-inclusive sex and relationship education in schools, and denies the existence of climate change. He has also expressed support for NHS privatisation.
In August 2025, Nuttall was chosen by Nigel Farage to join Reform UK's decision-making board.
Early life
Paul Andrew Nuttall was born in Bootle in Merseyside and educated at Savio High School, a Roman Catholic school. He was raised Catholic and currently practises that faith. He completed his A-Levels at Hugh Baird College in Bootle.Personal life
Nuttall was previously married and has a child from that marriage.Involvement in football
As a footballer, he was a member of Tranmere Rovers' youth squad in the early 1990s, although he later backtracked on claims made in one of his own press releases and UKIP campaign material that he had played professionally for the team.Historical studies
Nuttall studied history at Edge Hill College, graduating with a BA, and at Liverpool Hope University where he specialised in Edwardian politics and graduated with an MA.During his time at Edge Hill, Nuttall submitted an essay about the causes of the Holocaust, in which, according to his lecturer David Renton, he "suggested that there was an argument to be made that the Jewish people had brought it on themselves", citing the writer and Holocaust denier David Irving. When Renton discussed the quotations with him, Nuttall told Renton that "he was not responsible for the citations: his girlfriend had found them on the internet".
In 2004, Nuttall started working towards a PhD in the 'History of Conservatism in Liverpool', but did not complete it.
Teaching career
Nuttall received a Certificate in Education from the University of Central Lancashire. He lectured at Liverpool Hope University between 2004 and 2006.Political career
Early political career (2002–2009)
Before joining UKIP, Nuttall was a member of the Conservative Party. In the 2002 local government elections, he stood as a Conservative candidate in Derby Ward on Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, where he came second, winning 11.4% of the vote.In 2004, Nuttall left the Conservatives and joined the UK Independence Party. He founded its South Sefton branch in 2005 in order to contest elections in north Merseyside. He was UKIP's candidate for Bootle in the 2005 general election, where he won 4.1% of the vote. At the 2008 local elections, Nuttall again stood as a candidate for Derby Ward on Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, but this time as a UKIP candidate. He won 38% of the vote, behind the Labour candidate.
In 2008, Nuttall also became the founding secretary of Young Independence, the youth wing of UKIP for under 35-year-olds. He held this position until UKIP's spring conference in 2009 when Young Independence held its first internal elections. Nuttall was appointed as chairman of UKIP in September 2008. At the time, he was also employed as a political adviser to the Independence/Democracy group in the European Parliament.
First term in the European Parliament (2009–2014)
In the 2009 European Parliament election, Nuttall was selected to head the UKIP list for the North West England constituency. Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, he said "The Euro-election next June will give people the chance to express their views about the European Union. It is really the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty that they have been denied. A vote for any other party is a vote for the EU. If people do not like having 80% of our legislation emanating from unelected bureaucrats in Brussels the only party to vote for is UKIP." He was subsequently elected.Nuttall became a member of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group in the European Parliament, as well as a member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and a substitute member of the Committee on Culture and Education. His first speech in plenary was on 7 October 2009, on the "underhand and undemocratic way in which the incandescent light bulb has been banned across the European Union."
Nuttall opened an office for his European Parliament work in Bootle in March 2010. Nuttall again contested Bootle at the 2010 general election, coming fourth with 6.1% of the vote. In July 2010, it was found that, on average, British MEPs had the worst European Parliament attendance records, and that Nuttall, alongside David Campbell Bannerman and Godfrey Bloom, had the worst attendance records of British MEPs, with an average of below 63%. On 8 November 2010, Nuttall was confirmed by UKIP's NEC as Nigel Farage's choice for deputy leader. At the same time, he stepped down as chairman. He said, "This is a great honour which I was happy to accept, particularly at such a very exciting time for UKIP."
Following the general election, a High Court ruling found the result in Oldham East and Saddleworth null and void after Labour's Phil Woolas was found to have made false statements in campaign literature. Nuttall was selected as UKIP's candidate in the 2011 by-election held in the constituency to replace Woolas. Speaking to local media, he said that the by-election was "built on a pyramid of lies": "Whether it's Labour lying on their own election literature which has caused this sorry scenario, or whether it's the Liberal Democrats lying over tuition fees and reneging on their manifesto pledges, or whether it's the Tories lying over our relationship with the EU, or immigration, or crime." Nuttall came fourth in the election, winning 5.8% of the vote.
During the debate over a possible electoral pact between the Conservatives and UKIP, in September 2012 Nuttall said "You never say never in politics" when asked about the possibility of them working together. In November 2012, Nuttall said there would be "no deals with the Tories while David Cameron is leader", blaming Cameron's previous comments about the party, including that it was one of "closet racists".
In February 2013, Nuttall visited Bulgaria at the invitation of independent MEP Slavcho Binev. He visited the largest Romani quarter of Sofia, Bulgaria's capital, and later commented that such slums should not exist in Europe and that minorities should be integrated. He took part in a joint press conference with Binev, during which nationalist politician Volen Siderov interrupted proceedings to accuse UKIP of racism. This led to "an angry and rude exchange of words between him and Binev."
Nuttall predicted that the UK "will probably be out of the EU by 2020" in April 2013. His speech to UKIP's 2013 conference was praised by some, including Isabel Hardman of The Spectator, who wrote: "Nuttall's speech was more impressive and powerful that the slightly sweaty offering his boss gave a few minutes after him. The question is whether this northern MEP can become a brand in his own right in the way that Farage has managed to."
Second term in the European Parliament (2014–2019)
In 2014, Nuttall was returned to the European Parliament at the European election and was 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. In March 2017, it was reported that Nuttall had claimed excess European funding for his office in his constituency which he shared with Louise Bours.UKIP Leadership (2016–2017)
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, leader for 18 days after the first 2016 leadership election, announced she was to stand down.On 28 November 2016, following the second 2016 leadership election, he became leader of UKIP with 62.2% of the vote.
Nuttall stood as a UKIP candidate for the 2017 Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election. His campaign was compromised by his various questionable claims: that he was present and "lost close personal friends" at the Hillsborough disaster, that he had a PhD, had been on the board of directors at a vocational training charity, and had been a footballer for Tranmere Rovers, all of which emerged to be untrue. 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. Gareth Snell of Labour won the by-election with 7,853 votes to Nuttall's 5,233, Nuttall finishing second with 24.7% of the vote.
Paul Nuttall stood in the 2017 general election, in the constituency of Boston and Skegness, but failed to win the seat. He resigned as leader the day after the election.