Spokesman confirms appearance of person from far-right German party, which came third in election, at Torquay gathering

A senior member of Alternative for Germany, which has become the first openly nationalist party to enter the German Bundestag in more than 70 years, is to address the Ukip conference this week, it has been announced.

A party spokesman confirmed the news on Monday, but declined to say which AfD member would attend the conference in Torquay on Friday and Saturday.

“This, we believe, will be the first major appearance of the breakthrough Eurosceptic party in the UK since the German federal elections,” Ukip said, calling it a “must-see moment for all students of European politics”.



The two parties have existing ties. The former Ukip leader Nigel Farage addressed AfD during the German election campaign and the party’s interim leader, Steve Crowther, released a statement congratulating the party after it came third in the election.

“This is a brave move in Germany, whose politics has been overshadowed by the Nazi era. It shows that the people are no longer prepared to be ignored and coerced by the liberal left,” Crowther said.

AfD faced immediate turmoil after the election, with its co-leader announcing that she would not sit with it in the Bundestag. Frauke Petry walked out of a press conference on Monday morning during which the party leadership marvelled at its success, having secured nearly 13% of the vote and 94 seats in the federal parliament.

Ukip is due to unveil its fourth leader within a year at the conference. The plan to invite an AfD member reinforces its increasing ideological ties with hard-right and nationalist parties in Europe.

Seeking a new direction for the party after the Brexit vote, many of the seven candidates to replace the former leader Paul Nuttall are promising a more robust cultural approach, often based on a hardline attitude towards Islam.

The most extreme of the candidates is Anne Marie Waters, a co-founder of the UK branch of the anti-Islam Pegida movement, who has close ties to the far right and has described the religion as “evil”.

The bulk of Ukip’s MEPs have promised to quit the party if she wins. It was reported on Sunday that Farage would form a new Brexit-based party if Waters took over.

The Mail on Sunday cited unnamed friends of Farage as saying he felt there was an opportunity for a new party to appeal to more hardline Brexiters following Theresa May’s perceived softening on the issue.

Farage, who has predicted that Ukip would soon be extinct if Waters took over, plans to announce the party if she wins.

Even if Waters is not named leader, several other frontrunners have pledged to change Ukip’s focus, including Peter Whittle, the architect of its Islam-targeting policies at the June election. Another hopeful, David Kurten, has described the rise of transgender rights as one of the UK’s most pressing problems.