Ukip could field just 100 candidates at General Election as Paul Nuttall struggles to find wannabe MPs
TROUBLED Ukip could field as few a 100 candidates at the election, The Sun can reveal.
The bitterly divided Brexit party are struggling to find wannabe MPs and may only fight one in six Westminster constituencies.
Embattled party chief Paul Nuttall - himself wavering over a Commons run - has emailed all local party branches to give them the green light not to run against a pro-Brexit incumbent.
Raising the white flag, Mr Nuttall wrote said local party campaigners must “decide for themselves whether fielding a UKIP candidate will benefit our immediate focus of getting our country back.”
The dramatic decrease in candidate numbers would be in stark contrast to 2015 when the party contested almost every seat.
Our revelation comes as Mr Nuttall was widely mocked after comparing himself to Indian civil rights campaigner Gandhi.
“It is a bit like the Gandhi thing – ‘first they laugh at you, then they attack you, and then you win’.”
He added: “Unfortunately on this issue we seem be on the laughing or the mocking phase which I think is wrong as I feel the issues we raised were so important.”
But the famous phrase has never been proven to have been said by the heroic civil rights leader.
Mahatma Gandhi led the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India during the 1940s.
He was the architect of a form of non-violent civil protest – but was assassinated aged 78.