Gerard Joseph Batten[2] (born 27 March 1954) is a British politician who served as the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2018 to 2019.

He 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".

[22] In a 2013 interview with openDemocracy, Batten argued that the European Union was inspired by the proposals the Nazis developed in 1942 for Europe after they had won the Second World War, stating they were very similar to the 1957 Treaty of Rome.

[23] In 2017, in response to the Irish Government's intervention in the Brexit negotiations, 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".

When asked why Muslims should sign up to such a document, he told The Guardian's Rowena Mason in February 2014: "Christians aren't blowing people up at the moment, are they?

[4][27] According to Batten in Freedom Today, Wilders "is a brave man trying to defend western civilisation in the face of its own loss of the most basic instinct of self-preservation".

[28] When Wilders was refused entry to the UK at Heathrow Airport in 2009, following an invitation from the UKIP peer Lord Pearson for Wilders to screen his film to members of the House of Lords,[29] Batten said: "We can't do anything about murderers, rapists and paedophiles coming from the EU but they will stop a democratically elected politician from the EU talking about the sources of terrorism.

"[27] In a 2010 video, Batten said that no further mosques should be built in British cities,[30] and thought the existence of "two incompatible systems living in the same place at the same time" was a threat.

The document advocates repealing "the act of parliament that gives exception for ritual slaughter for religious reasons" and any law which "gives official recognition to Islamic banking".

A reviewer from The Guardian said the high point of the programme was the scene in which he left the European Parliament chamber, complaining of being censored because his microphone had been cut off.

[35] During Batten's initial interim leadership term, the party was saved from insolvency and put back on a sound financial footing after an appeal to members raised almost £300,000.

[38] In addition to good polling, UKIP also saw its membership numbers rise further and reportedly by 15% during the month of July alone, with thousands of new activists joining the ranks of the party.

[39] Many of the new members cited Batten's leadership and the perceived mismanagement of Britain's EU Exit by the Conservative Government as major factors in their joining.

Watson worked for the conspiracist InfoWars website, Benjamin had tweeted that he "would not even rape" Labour politician Jess Phillips and Meechan, known online as "Count Dankula", released a video showing him teaching his girlfriend's dog how to raise its paw in the manner of a Nazi salute, and to react to the phrase "Do you wanna gas the Jews?".

In April 2019, Batten defended UKIP candidate Carl Benjamin's social media reply in 2016, "I wouldn't even rape you", to the MP Jess Phillips.

One of these, Jane Collins, said "to hear Gerard Batten on national TV yesterday defending this man's use of rape as 'satire' made me sick to my stomach."

"[51] During an interview on Sky News with Sophy Ridge in May 2019, Batten stated his position as party leader would become "untenable" if he were to lose his seat in the European Parliament.

[57][58] Batten was the official UKIP candidate standing against Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May in the Maidenhead constituency at the 2017 general election.