A senior Ukip figure has compared his party to the “Black Death” as early indications suggest they face electoral wipeout in the local elections.
In comments that will raise eyebrows among his colleagues, Ukip general secretary Paul Oakley said that the bubonic plague had caused a lot of disruption in the Middle Ages before going “dormant”.
He added that it was not “all over” for Ukip, which has lost five party leaders in less than two years and which had already lost 92 council seats by 7am on Friday morning.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Oakley said: "Think of the Black Death in the Middle Ages.
"It comes along and it causes disruption and then it goes dormant, and that's exactly...