Gerard Batten quits as Ukip leader after losing every Ukip MEP seat, including his own His resignation follows the party’s disastrous defeat in the European elections

Gerard Batten has officially stepped down as leader of Ukip after facing a crushing defeat in the EU elections.

Writing on Twitter on Sunday, Mr Batten said: “My term as UKIP Leader ends today. A big thank you to all who have supported my leadership & UKIP over the last 15 months, morally, materially & financially.

“The NEC will now begin a leadership election process, which will see the next leader elected within the next 90 days.”

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Major loss at the polls

Mr Batten – who is the fourth person to lead Ukip in 19 months – announced his decision to quit prior to the European elections, which saw the Eurosceptic party lose every single one of their MEPs.

Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage mopped up many of the previous Ukip votes with his newly formed Brexit Party.



The European elections also saw Mr Batten lose his London seat, a position he had held since 2004.

Mr Batten was elected into the leadership position unopposed in April 2018, promising to resign after 12 months to prompt a leadership contest.

His term was extended so he could oversee both the local and European elections as party leader.

‘Death cult’

During his term as leader, Mr Batten was criticised for the direction in which he took Ukip.

The former Ukip leader described Islam as a “death cult” and called for Muslim-only prisons.

He also recruited the former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson (real name: Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) as an advisor, to much consternation.

Nigel Farage left the party in December 2018, citing Mr Batten’s “fixation” with Islam and his close relationship with Mr Robinson, saying, “The very idea of Tommy Robinson being at the centre of the Brexit debate is too awful to contemplate.”

Mr Batten claimed to have saved the party “from oblivion”, adding that Tommy Robinson was “a good person to have on side” and “a useful source of research.”

‘Rape joke’ controversy

Mr Batten was also criticised for defending rape comments made by Ukip MEP hopeful Carl Benjamin as “satire”.

Appearing on BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show in April, Mr Batten described the controversial candidate as a “classical liberal”.

He said: “He is a proponent of free speech. That was in the context that he said it was satire against the people he was saying it about. It wasn’t actually making a literal statement.”

Mr Batten also insisted that Ukip had always been, and would remain, a “non-racist” organisation.