Nigel Farage has launched a scathing attack on UKIP leader Gerard Batten, telling him he should stand down as leader, after being left “appalled” at the party’s decision to appoint far-right activist Tommy Robinson as an adviser.
English Defence League (EDL) founder and anti-Islam campaigner Tommy Robinson, who is not a UKIP member, will advise the party on ‘rape gangs’ and prison reform, the Mirror reports.
During his LBC radio show, Farage labelled Batten “shameful” and claimed he would be writing to UKIP’s national executive committee (NEC), urging them to call a vote of no-confidence in the leader, in a bid to “get rid of him.”
Batten has taken to social media to fire back at Farage, accusing him of an about-face on his attitude towards UKIP’s ruling body.
Batten, who has declared he is planning a Brexit march with Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – next month, insists the EDL founder has “great knowledge” on the subjects of grooming gangs and prisons.
In turn, Farage accused Batten of being obsessed with Robinson, who still faces potential imprisonment should his upcoming retrial find him guilty of contempt of court. The Brexiteer argued that hiring the controversial activist would destroy the notion that UKIP rejects racism.
“Gerard Batten has got this sort of fixation with Tommy Robinson and discussing Islam, and dragging UKIP in a direction of effectively being sort of a street activist party,” Farage told his listeners.
“It goes against all the things I did as leader to say we will talk about immigration, we will talk about the extreme forms of Islam. We’ll do it as a non-racist, non-sectarian party. This blows a hole in all of that,” he said.
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Robinson is currently not a member of UKIP – a fact Batten insists should not be a prerequisite to him being employed by the party.
The sticky issue of Robinson being a former EDL member is likely to be addressed imminently.
Under current rules, EDL members are banned from joining UKIP, but the party announced this week that it had begun the process to allow Robinson to become a member. To date, the national executive committee has resisted the move.
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