Etheridge: UKIP a 'street protest group' under Batten
A senior UKIP MEP has quit the party over its links to former EDL leader Tommy Robinson.
Patrick O’Flynn said he stepped down over UKIP leader Gerard Batten's connection to the far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
He said under Mr Batten the party had become 'an impediment' to the Brexit campaign that he has pursued for many years.
Mr Batten's recent decision to appoint Mr Robinson as an advisor on rape gangs and prisons has been widely condemned, with West Midlands MEP Bill Etheridge calling for members to end his 'appalling reign'.
Libertarian Party deputy chairman Mr Etheridge, who left UKIP earlier this year over its 'anti-Islam stance', said today: "The truth is that Batten's leadership has made UKIP so narrowly nationalist and extreme that the broad coalition of patriots so brilliantly formed by Nigel Farage is falling apart.
"Batten is destroying UKIP as an electoral force and turning it into a narrowly focused street protest group."
Mr O'Flynn said he plans to join the SDP (Social Democratic Party), which has just two elected councillors in the country.
