Paul Nuttall: internment might be necessary to counter 'Islamist cancer'

The Ukip leader, Paul Nuttall, has said it might be necessary to introduce internment without trial for terrorism suspects, adding that he would prioritise people’s lives over “the human rights of any jihadi”.

Speaking in the wake of Ukip’s move following the Manchester attack to focus its election approach more closely on Islamist terrorism, Nuttall denied that his party was becoming “extreme” over the issue.

But pressed by Andrew Neil as part of BBC1’s series of interviews with party leaders, Nuttall declined to condemn Gerard Batten, Ukip’s Brexit spokesman, for calling Islam a “death cult”, saying only that he had “got his terminology wrong”.

Nuttall insisted that Ukip was leading the way over policies such as a ban on Muslim women wearing a burqa in public and increased penalties for sexual offences against a person of a different religion.

“A lot of people within the Westminster bubble are very uncomfortable about it, but you know, we’re saying things that people are thinking, and what we’ve got to do is we’ve got to get to grips with this Islamist cancer within our midst,” Nuttall said.

“It needs to be cut out because I worry if it isn’t, then what happened the other night in Manchester may well become commonplace.”

Asked about the possible use of internment for people flagged as being under suspicion of terrorism, Nuttall said this might be necessary in the future.

“Well, when you read this morning there’s a suspected 23,000 jihadis living amongst us, obviously MI5 are stretched to capacity at this present moment in time,” he said.

“I think we’ve got to look at ways of ensuring that our people are safe, whether that is a return to control orders, whether that is tagging these people, who knows, in the future maybe a return to internment.”

Asked whether this might prove a recruiting tool for extremists, Nuttall said: “I wouldn’t take anything off the table in the future because ... unless we get a grip on this what happened in Manchester the other night, which is part of my constituency[as an MEP], could become commonplace. And that’s the last thing we want to see.”

Asked about previous comments in which he said torture techniques such as waterboarding might be justified if it was to prevent an imminent attack, Nuttall said he did not want it to be used routinely. However, he said in some cases “hard measures” could be needed.

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“I would put the lives of British families over the human rights of any jihadi any day,” he said.

Nuttall also repeated that while support for the death penalty was not Ukip policy, he would be potentially willing to “pull the lever” and personally execute people convicted of child murders.

Asked whether his views as a whole indicated he was “becoming pretty extreme” in an attempt to boost Ukip’s flagging poll numbers, Nuttall rejected this.

He said: “The fact is we’re the only ones who are coming up with an agenda to try and improve integration in this country.”

Neil asked the Ukip leader about comments from Batten, one of the party’s MEPs, who used his personal blog to call Islam “a death cult”.

Nuttall said Batten was not speaking for the party but, asked for his views, declined to condemn him or threaten any disciplinary action. “I think he’s got his terminology wrong,” Nuttall said.

With Ukip polling at little more than 5%, as against nearly 13% in the 2015 election, Nuttall insisted his party would remain relevant.

“Well, look, sometimes in politics the tide comes in, the tide goes out,” he said. “And this is very opportune for Theresa May at the moment because she’s able to talk the talk and sound tough on the issue of Brexit because she hasn’t gone into those negotiations.

“It will get difficult for her once the negotiations start and that’s why it’s so important that Ukip remains on the pitch. And if she does backslide I’ll make a prediction: Ukip by the end of 2018 could be bigger than it ever has been before.”