The leader of Ukip sparked outrage this morning as he defended one his candidates who tweeted 'I wouldn't even rape you' at a female politician.

Gerard Batten appeared on the Andrew Marr show to face down criticism that the party has attracted what former leader Nigel Farage calls a 'loutish fringe' of 'thuggery'.

He was asked about the selection of Carl Benjamin - also known as YouTube personality Sargon of Akkad - as a candidate in next month's EU elections.

The 39-year-old has nearly 1million subscribers and hit headlines when he tweeted 'I wouldn't even rape you' at Labour's Jess Philips.

Today Batten defended him on BBC One, saying the tweet was 'satire', adding 'he is not a bad person' and 'he is a proponent of free speech'.

Praising his social media stardom, he defended Benjamin as a 'classical liberal' and he's 'precisely' the sort of person Farage previously wanted in Ukip.

People took to social media to vent their fury at his appearance on the show, with Robert Patton slamming his 'disgusting policies'.

Batten's appearance sparked fury from some viewers, who slammed his 'disgusting' policies

Gerard Batten has defended the decision to select Carl Benjamin as a candidate for the upcoming EU elections (pictured, Batten on The Andrew Marr Show today)

'Why is the leader of Ukip on the Andrew Marr show?', he wrote. 'Zero MPs in parliament totally irrelevant party and disgusting policies. Their voice should be silences. Waste of fee payers money.'

Another user, with the handle @hackbridgeharry, asked why a 'grade A c***' was appearing on television.

Batten was accused of 'casual racism' by another user as he said that planning permission shouldn't be given to mosques in Britain because churches aren't allowed in 'their' (Muslims') countries.

On the show, Batten had first claimed that he didn't know about the context in which the 'I wouldn't even rape you' tweet was sent.

But moments later he argued that the tweet was sent in the context of Benjamin's free speech advocacy, calling it 'satire'.

The 2016 exchange arose out of Benjamin's criticism of the cross-party Reclaim the Internet group aimed at tackling misogyny online.

He dubbed the group - spearheaded by Philips - 'social communism', with the MP writing: 'People talking about raping me isn’t fun, but has become somewhat par for the course.' Benjamin replied: 'I wouldn’t even rape you, Jess Phillips.'

The MP (right) was highlighting the misogyny she faces online when Benjamin (left) sent a tweet saying 'I wouldn't even rape you' in 2016

Batten has been mired in controversy ever since he took the decision to appoint EDL founder Tommy Robinson as an adviser on child grooming gangs.

Marr confronted him with a clip of Farage - who is now leading the Brexit Party - saying 'I don't think that middle England, decent people, want to vote for thuggery'.

But Batten accused his former colleague of smearing him and the party's supporters.