Commenting on a Facebook video about Muslim integration in the UK, Matthews said: “This is a country which has serially condoned regressive religious practices under the watchful eye of so-called progressives who are ready to yell RACIST at any who dissent.”



Following the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville at which a counter-protester was murdered, Matthews endorsed remarks by Donald Trump that both sides were to blame. “He’s right,” Matthews wrote.

Despite his defence of Robinson and his mockery of Islamophobia, Matthews has also criticised his former party UKIP for its own anti-Muslim rhetoric and its closeness to the far-right activist. “Confronting Islam does not get enough votes to win,” he has said.

The revelations raise further questions about those involved in Farage’s new supposedly single-issue party. Farage has declined to explain what the party’s positions are beyond Brexit, clashing with the BBC’s Andrew Marr over its views on Sunday.

Matthews is the third senior Brexit Party official to have been revealed to have posted offensive comments online. BuzzFeed News previously reported that the party’s founder Catherine Blaiklock had made a series of anti-Muslim comments. She later resigned from her position. Treasurer Michael McGough also quit after the Guardian uncovered his anti-Semitic Facebook posts.

The Sunday Times reported that a dozen former Conservative Party activists and candidates who had been suspended for Islamophobia and now campaigning for the Brexit Party.

Labour MP and People’s Vote campaigner Wes Streeting told BuzzFeed News: "This is the third Islamophobe Farage has appointed to a leading role in his new Brexit Party. It shows that Farage and his party are no more respectable than the racism he left behind in UKIP. British people, remain or leave, will be appalled by the hatred being spread by him and his party."

The anti-Muslim monitoring group Tell MAMA condemned Matthews. Its director Iman Atta said: “The comments from the lead officer and activist of the Brexit Party show a sympathy for Tommy Robinson as though he is being persecuted. He has door-stepped members of the public, instigated mobbing type activity online against individuals who call out his anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic slant and and led demonstrations that have caused tensions in communities.

“This support does not bode well for how the Brexit Party is portrayed and people need to think carefully when they vote about what they are voting for when such individuals promoting divisive messages are involved.”

The Muslim Council of Britain called on Farage to take action against Matthews. A spokesperson said: “We welcome the Brexit Party’s bold claim to be ‘deeply intolerant of intolerance’. With these latest revelations of bigotry, that party must now demonstrate these words in deeds. Otherwise there will be no difference between it and the UK Independence Party that trades in hatred against Muslims.”

A Brexit Party spokesperson said: "The Brexit Party does not condone or endorse any of these views. Noel Matthews was tweeting in a personal capacity before his involvement in the Brexit Party. His views do not represent those of the party or its leader."