UKIP general secretary compares party to the Black Death

UKIP's general secretary has compared his party to the Black Death – the plague which killed millions of people in the Middle Ages – when explaining the party's local election results.

'It's not all over at all,' Oakley told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

'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 what we are going to do. Our time isn't finished because Brexit is being betrayed.'

Challenged over whether he wanted to compare his party to a plague that killed millions of people, Mr Oakley said: 'Absolutely. What's wrong with that?'

He pointed to positive outcomes from the Black Death: 'It also led to economic growth and the Renaissance. It got rid of the whole issue of servitude, basically, and allowed people to go into the towns and escape their landlords and create their own businesses.'

Oakley said UKIP had been hit by the failure of former leader Henry Bolton to start campaigning early enough and by a court order to pay £175,000 to Labour MPs as a result of a libel case.

'We were never going to do brilliantly in these elections, we knew that. We accepted that some time ago. If we had had the money to campaign, we would have done a lot better. We are never going to take over councils all over the country. Four years ago was our high point.'