Another inconclusive election in the UK, this time for control of local governments, saw Conservatives stave off significant Labor gains thanks in part to right-wing voters coming home after abandoning UKIP. From the ashes on the far right, UKIP's General Secretary had a thought-- a remarkably bad one.
Mr Oakley was speaking to Nick Robinson on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 on Friday morning after disastrous local election results for UKIP, which has been all but wiped out. UKIP was established with one key policy - to leave the European Union. In 2015, the party won 12.6% of the vote at the general election. But since the 2016 referendum in which Britain elected to leave the EU, it has seen its support collapse.
"Think of the Black Death in the Middle Ages," Mr Oakley said. "It comes along, it causes disruption then it goes dormant. And that's exactly what we're going to do."
When they said "afflict the powerful," Oakley, they didn't mean with buboes.
Labor ended the election with 68 councils to the Conservatives' 46, losing one each on balance, with Liberal Democrats crawling back into play with 7.
