Hampstead and Kilburn Ukip candidate: ‘My great aim is to licence the mosques’

Magnus Nielsen. Picture: Polly Hancock. Archant

To conclude our series of interviews with parliamentary candidates standing for election in Hampstead and Kilburn on May 7, politics reporter Tim Lamden talks to the UK Independence Party (Ukip) candidate.

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When Magnus Nielsen stood for the UK Independence Party (Ukip) in last year’s Camden Council elections, he caught the attention of the national press with his arresting views on Islam.

“Islam is organised crime under religious camouflage,” he said. “Islam was created by a man called Muhammad who was a gang leader of criminals.”

This year, as Ukip’s parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn, Mr Nielsen is taking his stance on Islam a step further and advocating action to tackle the problems he perceives within the religion.

“My great aim is to licence the mosques and licence the clergy,” he said.

“So that if the clergy are preaching doctrine that is in contravention of UK law and human rights then they lose their licences.

“If the mosque can’t find a licensed imam, they have to close down until they can.”

So will he be promoting the same for Catholic priests or Jewish rabbis if he objects to their preachings?

“I don’t think the other religions would present the same sort of problem,” said Mr Nielsen.

The 65-year-old, who has lived in Fairfax Mansions, off Finchley Road, for more than 30 years, is keen to stress that his views on Islam are not official Ukip policy.

But he is satisfied he will not face censure from central office. It is the “latitude” he is afforded by Ukip which he cherishes most about the party.

He believes Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who he has met on numerous occasions, may agree with his views on Islam.

“I haven’t asked Nigel Farage if he agrees but I wouldn’t be surprised if he does.”

Mr Nielsen, who stood for Ukip at the last three general elections, grew up in Golders Green, attending independent King Alfred School until the age of 10 when he moved to Birmingham, where his father got a job as a university lecturer.

In 1973, he returned to London for good and began working in admin jobs at the BBC and a West End theatre before pursuing a largely unsuccessful acting career for five years in the 1980s.

“I spent an awful amount of time out of work,” he said.

Mr Nielsen eventually found his professional calling in tourism and has spent the last 25 years in the industry, retiring as a tour guide.

His partner of 30 years, Nigel, died in 2004.

Mr Nielsen joined Ukip in 1993 for the same reason he is now chairman of the party’s north London branch: the European Union (EU).

“I felt something should be done about the fact that we were losing control of the way this country was governed by people who had no interest in the welfare of our country,” he said.

“It’s my feeling that the EU will collapse. When it collapses, we’ll need a body of people who know what kind of policies are needed to get us back on track.”