Ukip's Gawain Towler should go over Warsi comment, says agency boss

A row broke out between the Tories and Ukip after Conservative Party chair Lady Warsi linked the Eurosceptic party’s rise with the decline of the far-right British National Party.

Speaking on the BBC's election night coverage last night, Lady Warsi said: ‘Where Ukip is fielding candidates this time that the BNP did last time but they're not this time, I think that will have an impact.’

Subsequently, Ukip spokesman Gawain Towler called Lady Warsi a ‘bitch’ on Twitter to his 1,700 followers, some of whom criticised his ‘unparliamentary language’.

The spokesman quickly deleted the post and apologised, tweeting: ‘Deleted, out of order on my part’. He later added: ‘Shouln't (sic) have said that, apologise.’

Tetra Strategy founding partner James O’Keefe said that Warsi’s comments were ‘quite an interesting observation’.

‘The bitch comment for me turns focus onto Ukip and a test for them - if they are a serious political party they need to fire this spokesman,’ said O’Keefe.

On a bruising night for the Tories and Liberal Democrats, Labour took control of a series of key councils including Southampton, Birmingham, Plymouth, Reading, Norwich, Thurrock and Harlow.

With around half of votes counted, Labour had racked up more than 470 new seats and looked set for overall gains of more than 700, while the Tories looked likely to lose more than 350 seats and the Liberal Democrats about 200.

O’Keefe said that Lib Dem president Tim Farron will be respected for his apology to Lib Dem councillors who have lost their seats.

However, Nick Clegg’s words that he is ‘really sad’ at his party's election results after a bruising night for the coalition will ‘anger those who lost their seats...as he slips back into Downing Street in his limo’.

This article was first published on prweek.com