The UK Independence Party looks set to be plunged into more leadership strife after Nigel Farage called on Gerard Batten to quit over his appointment of Tommy Robinson as an adviser.

Mr Farage said he was “appalled” at the decision to make the controversial activist - real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - an adviser on rape gangs and prison conditions and reform.

Mr Farage, who led Ukip on three occasions between 2006 and 2016, said Ukip would be “finished” as an electoral force if it continued in its current direction.

However Mr Batten hit back saying that “Brexit is bigger than Nigel Farage’s ego” and that “Nigel has done nothing for Ukip in the past two years”.

Mr Batten is now in planning over for a “Great Brexit betrayal” rally for "tens upon tens of thousands of people" addressed by Robinson on Sunday December 9 on the eve of MPs’ meaningful vote on Mrs May’s Brexit deal, in either Parliament Square or Trafalgar Square.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that Mr Batten appointed Robinson after the party’s ruling National Executive Committee refused to readmit him as a member at a meeting last Sunday.