Phillip Broughton

Phillip Broughton is a British politician who stood for the UK Independence Party in Hartlepool at the 2015 General Election. In July 2016, he announced that he is running to be leader of UKIP in the UK Independence Party leadership election, 2016 following the resignation of Nigel Farage. Broughton said the party needed to change its "tone".

Broughton has contested two elections under the UKIP banner:

UK Parliament & EU elections

At the 2015 General Election, Broughton was selected to fight the seat of Hartlepool where he fought a campaign alongside the Conservative Party candidate Richard Royal, where they both attempted to present themselves as the only viable alternatives to Labour party candidate Iain Wright.

As a result, much of the anti-Labour vote was split, with UKIP and the Conservatives gaining a combined 48.9% compared to Iain Wright’s 35.6%. Broughton achieved a 21% swing in the UKIP vote, but neither of the candidates were able to take enough votes individually to defeat Labour.

However, this was UKIP's fourth highest vote share in the 2015 election, and the highest vote share against a Labour candidate in England & Wales.

Broughton confirmed his intent on standing as the UKIP candidate in Hartlepool, for the second time. He was subsequently unsuccessful in achieving a 3.87% swing to gain the seat.

This time, Broughton finished in 3rd place with 4,801 votes with just over 11% of the overall vote. Although this may have been seen as a dismal result, this was the second best UKIP vote in the UK with the best being Thurrock where 21% of the overall vote went to UKIP.

Broughton also achieved the best UKIP result in North East England, West Midlands and North West England.

On 1 August 2016 Broughton stood to be the leader of UKIP after Nigel Farage stepped down. Where he campaigned and took part in leadership hustings.

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