Express & Star

'Evil cult of Islam' row: I've no idea who he is, says Farage. Errrr..!

After claiming he had 'never heard' of the UKIP candidate who branded Islam an 'evil cult', here is Nigel Farage standing side by side with Steve Latham.

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Steve Latham with Nigel Farage

Mr Latham has the snap as his profile picture on Facebook, captioned: "Had good meeting with a down-to-earth man, a man of the people."

The UKIP leader has dismissed questions about Mr Latham, who is standing in West Bromwich East.

When asked about it on the campaign trail, Mr Farage looked puzzled and said: "Who?

"Never heard of him.

"I don't know who he is."

Told that Mr Latham was a candidate standing for UKIP, Mr Farage said: "I don't know the names of all 630, I'm sorry.

"People often say things on Facebook that they regret the next morning."

Mr Latham posted the photograph of himself with Mr Farage as his profile picture on March 18.

Asked if he supported Mr Latham's Facebook comment that Islam is an evil cult, the UKIP leader replied: "Of course not. And we had at our launch Muslim candidates that are standing for UKIP in this General Election."

The party has been criticised for refusing to take action after it emerged that the coach driver and former pub landlord had written on Facebook about the Labour Party being infiltrated by 'the evil cult of Islam'.

He apologised and said he had only been referring to extremists, not Muslims in general.

Mr Farage also came in for criticism after this week's televised opposition leaders' debate because he described the studio audience as 'remarkable, even by the left-wing standards of the BBC'.

After saying it would investigate Mr Latham's Facebook posting, UKIP said: "UKIP notes that Steve Latham has apologised for his remark and explained that he was intending to criticise only extremists and not all Muslims. UKIP has many Muslim members, some of them candidates in this election, who fully support our positions on religion, immigration, culture and social cohesion, and clearly Mr Latham's comment did not represent the party's view."

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