Anne Marie Waters, the leader of the far-right political party For Britain, has thanked for Smiths frontman Morrissey for his recent support.

Twice in recent weeks Morrissey has been spotted wearing a For Britain badge, most prominently during a performance on Jimmy Fallon’s major American TV show.

The ‘For Britain Movement’ is a political group—often described as extremist—founded by the anti-Islam activist Waters after she was defeated in the 2017 UKIP leadership.

While Morrissey has come under major criticism for his political stance, Waters has publicly credited him and thanked the singer for his support: “Thank you so much for your support since the UKIP leadership election,” Waters said in a new YouTube video. “Thank you for giving us so much publicity.”

Perhaps more concerning, Waters went on to suggest that the popularity of the political movement has grown substantially since Morrissey’s show of support: “I can tell you that the traffic to our website exploded with the story breaking of you wearing the For Britain button badge, which you have been wearing everywhere from what I can see. We have sold out of those, but the good news is we have more, and they have been selling like hot cakes, so thank you very much for doing that,” she added.

Signing off her YouTube video, Waters thanked both Morrissey and the Daily Mail for spreading the word about For Britain: “Thank you, Morrissey. I hope to meet you one day,” said Waters. “Thank you, Daily Mail. Keep up the hysterical smearing. It’s having the opposite effect. You are driving people to us.”

Largely labeled as dangerous members of the political spectrum, Morrissey’s a decision was heavily criticised by Journalist and former friend of Morrissey Dave Haslam: “My former friend sporting a For Britain badge, a party violently anti-Islam, filled with ex-BNP and ex-EDL, pro-privatisation, far right and prone to exploiting tragedies to disseminate divisive anti-immigrant rhetoric online, what happened to ‘It takes guts to be gentle and kind’?” Haslam reacted.

The news comes as little surprise given that Morrissey, in the recent past, has defended the likes of Tommy Robinson, suggested that Hitler was left-wing and hit out at London mayor Sadiq Kahn in a slur about his speech.

What ensued was a wave criticism from well known industry names like Moby and, at one point, the former Smiths frontman became the subject of an anti-racism protest party on what should have been a somewhat triumphant homecoming concert in Manchester.

[MORE] – The Smiths bassist Andy Rourke defends Morrissey: ‘the world without him would be boring’

See the performance, below: