The head of the UK Independence Party has appointed a leading far-right activist as a personal adviser, prompting UKIP's former leader Nigel Farage to call for his ouster amid accusations of Islamophobia.
UKIP chief Gerard Batten told the BBC on Friday that Tommy Robinson, a hugely divisive figure who founded the anti-Islam English Defence League, had been appointed as his adviser on "rape gangs and prison reform".
Robinson's real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and the name he has taken on is that of a well-known football hooligan.
He has prior convictions for drugs and assault and was also imprisoned in Britain earlier this year for live-streaming outside a court in breach of reporting restrictions on a trial into a gang accused of sexual assault.
Farage, who still represents the party in the European Parliament, said Batten was taking UKIP in a "shameful direction" and he would call a vote of no-confidence.
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Farage said Batten had a "sort of fixation" with Robinson and "discussing Islam and dragging UKIP into a direction of effectively being a sort of street activist party".
"If it continues in this direction, electorally it is finished," he said.
Campaign group Stand Up To Racism said the intervention by Farage, who is himself accused of making racist statements, was "a sign things have got pretty dire for UKIP".
"UKIP now has fascists at its centre," the group said.
A group of British MPs set up to tackle hate crime said the decision "will do nothing but whip up and inflame tensions and bigotry, particularly against the Muslim community".
Batten defended his decision, saying Robinson had been "persecuted by the state" and had shown "courage".
"He is merely a personal adviser on particular issues," Batten said, insisting however that he would ask party members to lift a restriction on allowing former far-right activists to join the party to let Robinson in.
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