Gerard Batten plans to stand again for UKIP leader... weeks after resigning

UKIP's Gerard Batten - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

Sound familiar? The former leader of UKIP is planning to re-stand for election weeks after he resigned from the post.

Gerard Batten quit as leader on June 2 after UKIP was wiped out at the European elections by its former leader Nigel Farage’s new group, the Brexit Party.

But following in the footsteps of Farage, Batten will stand again for the job.

Farage quit as UKIP leader in 2009 before taking up the reins again in 2010, repeating this in 2015, and then quitting a third time in 2016.

He tweeted: “Because of overwhelming support from UKIP members I have decided to stand in the Leadership contest.

“My platform will include: National Democracy. Economic Democracy. Political Democracy. Freedom of Speech. No backtracking or surrender to political correctness.”

UKIP is searching for its seventh leader in just under three years. It expects to announce the winner on August 10.

Batten had been in post since April 2018, when he was elected unopposed following the resignation of former leader Henry Bolton.

His tenure was controversial in moving the party further to the right, including appointing English Defence League founder Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, as a political adviser.

After haemorrhaging support, he announced he was standing down, tweeting: “My term as UKIP Leader ends today.

“A big thank you to all who have supported my leadership & UKIP over the last 15 months, morally, materially & financially.

“The NEC will now begin a leadership election process, which will see the next leader elected within the next 90 days.”