Gerard Batten

"Successive governments have refused to accept the threat posed to our society by Islamic fundamentalism and extremism and to take the necessary measures to meet it head-on. We should esteem our own values of freedom, free speech and liberal secular democracy and start defending them."

"Freedom cannot be expected to tolerate that which would destroy it. Fundamentalist and extremist Islam is incompatible with freedom and Western liberal democracy. The real issue for those wishing to remain free is not an argument about headdress but the threat posed to our freedoms and way of life by a minority of people and how the state chooses to deal with it - if indeed it has the courage to do so at all."

"Instead of asking the EU how we may leave we should have been explaining to them how we are going to leave."

"We are determined to protect our freedom of speech and the right to speak our minds without fear of the politically correct thought-police knocking on our doors."

"[Tommy Robinson is] entitled to speak at rallies organised by people who believe in democracy"

"The people of Wales voted to leave the European Union and return our United Kingdom to the status of an independent democracy."

"[Having described Tommy Robinson as a "high profile" figure who had been "persecuted by the state because of his views".] I think he's a good person to have on side, a lot of people respect his stand on things and his courage."

"If Parliament does not take Britain out of the European Union it will be the biggest constitutional crisis since the English Civil War. In 1642 the king put himself in opposition to parliament. Parliament won and the king lost his head."

"What we do know is that if we do not leave the EU it will mark the end of democracy in the UK."

"Tommy Robinson is not far-right... and does not have far-right views. He is someone who can give some information and research which is useful to me. We have always been a democratic, non-racist party. That has always been in our constitution and that is exactly the way we are going to keep it. It is very odd in this day and age when you get called far-right, when what you have spent the last 25 years trying to do is to return government to our own democratically elected Parliament."

"Mr Batten's obsession with Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (to use Tommy Robinson’s real name) and fixation with the issue of Islam makes Ukip unrecognisable to many of us. While Robinson may hold an appeal to some members of society who feel they are disenfranchised, I believe he is entirely unsuitable to be involved in any political party. The fact is that his entourage includes violent criminals and ex-BNP members. [...] Next to Robinson is a man called Daniel Thomas, a convicted armed kidnapper. There are other pretty unsavoury-looking characters dotted around the room. [...] And so, with a heavy heart, and after all my years of devotion to the party, I am leaving Ukip today."