25 Facts About Gerard Batten

Gerard Joseph Batten was born on 27 March 1954 and is a British politician who served as the Leader of the UK Independence Party from 2018 to 2019.

Gerard Batten was a founding member of the party in 1993, and served as a Member of the European Parliament for London from 2004 to 2019.

Gerard Batten grew up on the Isle of Dogs in the East End of London.

Gerard Batten was a member of the Anti-Federalist League, an early Eurosceptic cross-party political alliance from 1992 to 1993.

Gerard Batten was one of the founding members of the UK Independence Party in 1993, and was its first General Secretary from 1994 to 1997.

Gerard Batten has been a member of UKIP's National Executive Committee several times.

Gerard Batten was first elected as a Member of the European Parliament in the 2004 European Parliamentary Election for the London constituency on the basis of seeking the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

Gerard Batten stood in the 2009 UKIP leadership election, coming second in a field of five behind the winner Lord Pearson.

From 2016 to 2018, Gerard Batten served as the UKIP Spokesman for Exiting the European Union.

In 2011, Gerard Batten spoke with Julian Assange's lawyers and began advocating for him in the media and in European Parliament.

In early April 2006, Gerard Batten stated that a London constituent and former Federal Security Service agent, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Litvinenko, had been told by Mario Scaramella, that Romano Prodi, the former Prime Minister of Italy and president of the European Commission, had been the KGB's "man in Italy".

Gerard Batten told the European Parliament that Litvinenko had been warned by FSB deputy chief General Anatoly Trofimov that there were numerous former KGB agents among Italian politicians, and that "Romano Prodi is our man in Italy".

On 26 April 2006, Gerard Batten repeated his call for a parliamentary inquiry.

In 2017, in response to the Irish Government's intervention in the Brexit negotiations, Gerard Batten expressed the view on Twitter that Ireland, "a tiny country that relies on UK for its existence", is "the weakest kid in the playground sucking up to the EU bullies".

Gerard Batten advocated the revocation of the Common Travel Area between Ireland and the UK.

Gerard Batten participated in the international counter-jihad conference in Brussels in 2007, and has been said to have long-standing links with the counter-jihad movement.

In 2008, Gerard Batten invited the Dutch Party for Freedom leader and MEP Geert Wilders to the European Parliament, in an unsuccessful attempt to screen Wilders' film Fitna for MEPs.

In 2018, Gerard Batten was featured in the Channel 4 documentary Carry on Brussels: Inside the EU.

On 22 January 2018, Gerard Batten resigned as UKIP's Brexit spokesman in protest at the party leadership of Henry Bolton; in the process he publicly called for Bolton to stand down from the office, amidst general dissatisfaction amongst a substantial portion of the party's membership with the leader, collapsing membership levels, and ongoing media coverage of Bolton's personal life.

Bolton was officially dismissed as party leader on 17 February 2018, after an Extraordinary General Meeting vote by the party membership, and Gerard Batten was announced as the Party Leader until the conclusion of the next leadership election.

On 14 April 2018, Gerard Batten was elected unopposed as the Leader of UKIP.

In June 2018, Gerard Batten attempted to broaden the party's appeal by allowing three controversial online political figures to join the party: Carl Benjamin, Mark Meechan and Paul Joseph Watson.

Gerard Batten's extended term as UKIP leader ended on 2 June 2019, triggering a leadership election.

On 27 June 2019, the closing date for nominations, Gerard Batten announced that he was standing for re-election to the party's leadership, but on 7 July 2019, UKIP's National Executive Committee passed a motion prohibiting him from doing so on the grounds that 'he had brought the party into disrepute' during his previous tenure in the position.

Gerard Batten was the official UKIP candidate standing against Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May in the Maidenhead constituency at the 2017 general election.