Difference between revisions of "Gerard Batten"

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==CounterJihad connections==
 
==CounterJihad connections==
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===Prodi allegation===
 
===Prodi allegation===
 
Batten raised allegations that [[Romano Prodi]] was a [[KGB]] agent during the 2006 Italian election campaign, at a time when Prodi was the front--runner, according to the ''EU Reporter'':
 
Batten raised allegations that [[Romano Prodi]] was a [[KGB]] agent during the 2006 Italian election campaign, at a time when Prodi was the front--runner, according to the ''EU Reporter'':
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::In his one-minute speech during Strasbourg plenary, Gerard Batten (UK, IN/DEM) told how [[Alexander Litvinenko]], a former Lieutenant Colonel in the [[FSB]], the successor to the [[KGB]], and currently living under political asylum in the UK, was informed by [[FSB]] deputy chief, General [[Anatole Trofimov]] of the high amount of communist activity operating in Italy. With reference to the [[KGB]], Litvinenko was told, “[[Romano Prodi]] is our man there”.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20060524063146/http://www.eureporter.co.uk/showarticle.php?newsid=2218 Prodi accused of being former Soviet agent], EU Reporter, 3 April 2006, via the Internet Archive.</ref>
 
::In his one-minute speech during Strasbourg plenary, Gerard Batten (UK, IN/DEM) told how [[Alexander Litvinenko]], a former Lieutenant Colonel in the [[FSB]], the successor to the [[KGB]], and currently living under political asylum in the UK, was informed by [[FSB]] deputy chief, General [[Anatole Trofimov]] of the high amount of communist activity operating in Italy. With reference to the [[KGB]], Litvinenko was told, “[[Romano Prodi]] is our man there”.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20060524063146/http://www.eureporter.co.uk/showarticle.php?newsid=2218 Prodi accused of being former Soviet agent], EU Reporter, 3 April 2006, via the Internet Archive.</ref>
  
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===SIOE===
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===Stop Islamisation of Europe demo petition===
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On September 11 2007, Batten accepted a petition from [[Anders Gravers]] protesting a ban on a Brussels demonstration by [[Stop Islamisation of Europe]].<ref>Scores arrested in anti-Islam protest in Belgium, Agence France Presse, 11 September 2007.</ref>
+
On September 11 2007, Batten accepted a petition from [[Anders Gravers]] protesting a ban on a Brussels demonstration by [[Stop Islamisation of Europe]] (SIOE).<ref>Scores arrested in anti-Islam protest in Belgium, ''Agence France Presse'', 11 September 2007.</ref>
  
 
===Counterjihad Europa===
 
===Counterjihad Europa===
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==='Charter of Muslim Understanding'===
 
==='Charter of Muslim Understanding'===
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In 2014 it emerged that Batten had written the forward for the 2006 'Proposed Charter of Muslim Understanding' authored by former Muslim convert to Christianity and counterjihad activist [[Sam Solomon]]. The document suggested Muslims ought to sign a a five-point declaration including a rejection of violence.<ref name="GdnCharter">Rowena Mason, [http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/04/ukip-mep-gerard-batten-muslims-sign-charter-rejecting-violence Ukip MEP says British Muslims should sign charter rejecting violence], The Guardian, 4 February 2015</ref> The Tory MP [[Robert Halfon]] called the call 'frightening' and 'sinister', comparing the proposal to a first step towards making Muslims wear 'a yellow star', as Jews were made to in Nazi Germany.<ref>Rowena Mason, [http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/05/tory-mp-ukip-muslim-code-conduct-frightening-halfon-batten Tory MP says Ukip politician's call for Muslim code of conduct is frightening], The Guardian, 5 February 2014</ref>
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[[File:Battencharter.png||350px|thumb|right|The end of Batten's foreword to the proposed 'Charter of Muslim Understanding' which called for special denunciations of violence from Muslims]]
 +
 
 +
In 2014 it emerged that Batten had written the foreword for the 2006 'Proposed Charter of Muslim Understanding' authored by former Muslim convert to Christianity and counterjihad activist [[Sam Solomon]]. According to anti-Islamophobia monitoring group TellMAMA, he had commissioned Solomon to write it and orginally launched it in Strasbourg in December 2006.<ref>Steven Rose [http://tellmamauk.org/sam-solomon-christian-concern-gerard-batten-steven-rose/ Sam Solomon, Christian Concern and Gerard Batten by Steven Rose], TellMAMA, 16 May 2014, accessed 24 February 2015</ref>
 +
 
 +
The document suggested Muslims ought to sign a a five-point declaration including a rejection of violence.<ref name="GdnCharter">Rowena Mason, [http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/04/ukip-mep-gerard-batten-muslims-sign-charter-rejecting-violence Ukip MEP says British Muslims should sign charter rejecting violence], The Guardian, 4 February 2015</ref> The Tory MP [[Robert Halfon]] called the call 'frightening' and 'sinister', comparing the proposal to a first step towards making Muslims wear 'a yellow star', as Jews were made to in Nazi Germany.<ref>Rowena Mason, [http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/05/tory-mp-ukip-muslim-code-conduct-frightening-halfon-batten Tory MP says Ukip politician's call for Muslim code of conduct is frightening], The Guardian, 5 February 2014</ref>
  
 
===Ban on new mosques in Europe===
 
===Ban on new mosques in Europe===
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In 2009, Batten wrote an article for the [[Freedom Association]] in which he called WIlders 'brave man trying to defend western civilisation in the face of
 
In 2009, Batten wrote an article for the [[Freedom Association]] in which he called WIlders 'brave man trying to defend western civilisation in the face of
−
its own loss of the most basic instinct of self-preservation.'<ref>Gerard Batten, [http://web.archive.org/web/20120813035716/http://www.gerardbattenmep.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/islamistthreat09.pdf The Islamist threat to freedom],  Freedom Today, February 2009, accessed via the Web Archive 24 February 2015</ref>  
+
its own loss of the most basic instinct of self-preservation.'<ref>Gerard Batten, [http://web.archive.org/web/20120813035716/http://www.gerardbattenmep.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/islamistthreat09.pdf The Islamist threat to freedom],  Freedom Today, February 2009, accessed via the Web Archive 24 February 2015</ref>
 +
 
 +
===Far-right friends===
 +
Ex-[[UKIP]] MEP Nikki Sinclaire has claimed that Batten has been 'hell-bent on attacking Muslims', is 'incredibly paranoid' and 'talks about the gradual takeover by the Muslims of Great Britain and sharia law'. She has also alleged that he is 'very good friends' with far-right European politicians like Dutch MP [[Geert Wilders]] and members of Belgium's [[Vlaams Belang]]. According to the Huffington Post, she stated 'I often see him in the parliament with those MEPs.'<ref name="AsaB">Asa Bennett, [http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/05/21/gerard-batten-ukip_n_5350598.html Meet Gerard Batten, The UKIP MEP Scare-Mongering About Islam, Immigrants And Bilderberg], Huffington Post, 21 May 2014, accessed 24 February 2015</ref>
 +
 
 +
===Meeting with EDL donor and strategist===
 +
In March 2011, an article by anti-fascist organisation Searchlight noted that [[Alan Ayling]] (aka Alan Lake), then a donor to and strategist for the [[English Defence League]] (EDL), had boasted in an interview with the [[Daily Star]], a British tabloid newspaper, of links to Gerard Batten.<ref>Nick Lowles, [http://web.archive.org/web/20110425042113/http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&story=344 Puppet master], Searchlight, March 2011, accessed via the Web Archive 24 February 2015</ref>
 +
 
 +
As a result, on 7 March 2011, Batten appears to have issued a statement in which he admitted meeting Lake in autumn 2010, knowing he was associated with the [[EDL]]. The statement was tweeted by former [[UKIP]] aide J[[asna Badzak]].<ref name="Badzak">[https://twitter.com/JasnaBadzak/status/261242944772767745/photo/1 Final tweet tonight-#UKIP MEP Spokesman admits meeting #EDL deputy Lake,connected to Breivik,questioned by Norwaypolice], Twitter, 24 October 2012, accessed 24 February 2015</ref> In it, Batten wrote:
 +
 
 +
::Being aware of the phenomenon of the EDL, I wished to establish my own independent assessment of them. I decided therefore, on my own initiative, to meet with Mr Lake. We met in full public view in a cafe in Liverpool St Station for about an hour or more.
 +
 
 +
::Mr Lake gave me his assurances that the EDL were a non-racist, non-violent organisation and that is only concerned with combating the ideology of extremist and fundamentalist Islamism and had no prejudice against Muslims as such. I decided that no further meetings were either necessary or appropriate.<ref name="Badzak"/>
  
 
==='Dismantling multiculturalism'===
 
==='Dismantling multiculturalism'===
 
Batten reportedly authored a four-page paper entitled 'Confidential draft – Dismantling Multiculturalism' in 2011, which was sent to members of [[Christian Concern]] with whom he also held a meeting. The document argued that multiculturalism had failed, called for a ban on Islamic finance as well as kosher and halal slaughter and stated: 'Islamic fundamentalism is the cuckoo in the western multicultural nest. We can either address it now or be destroyed by it in the course of time'.<ref>Rowena Mason and Rajeev Syal, [http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/05/ukip-batten-muslims-halal-banned Ukip MEP who supported Muslim code of conduct urged halal slaughter ban], The ''Guardian'', 5 February 2014</ref>
 
Batten reportedly authored a four-page paper entitled 'Confidential draft – Dismantling Multiculturalism' in 2011, which was sent to members of [[Christian Concern]] with whom he also held a meeting. The document argued that multiculturalism had failed, called for a ban on Islamic finance as well as kosher and halal slaughter and stated: 'Islamic fundamentalism is the cuckoo in the western multicultural nest. We can either address it now or be destroyed by it in the course of time'.<ref>Rowena Mason and Rajeev Syal, [http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/05/ukip-batten-muslims-halal-banned Ukip MEP who supported Muslim code of conduct urged halal slaughter ban], The ''Guardian'', 5 February 2014</ref>
 +
 +
In 2010, [[Christian Concern]]'s [[Paul Diamond]] had defended Batten's wife in court in a case over a TV license.<ref>[http://www.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/media/mep-criticises-bbc-politically-biased-corporation MEP criticises BBC as a 'politically biased' corporation], Christian Concern, 11 November 2012, accessed 24 February 2015</ref>
 +
 +
==Views==
 +
===On immigration===
 +
In 2010 Batten wrote a paper for [[UKIP]] entitled 'Immigration - Action Overdue!', a lengthy document outlining his thoughts at length on the effect of immigration on Britain. It included the claims that due to what he referred to as 'white flight' many parts of Britain are 'more like enclaves of Pakistan, Bengal or India than English cities' and stated that 'the English will become a minority in their own land'.<ref name="AsaB"/>
  
 
==Personal information==
 
==Personal information==
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*Rowena Mason, [http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/04/ukip-mep-gerard-batten-muslims-sign-charter-rejecting-violence Ukip MEP says British Muslims should sign charter rejecting violence], theguardian.com, 4 February 2014.
 
*Rowena Mason, [http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/04/ukip-mep-gerard-batten-muslims-sign-charter-rejecting-violence Ukip MEP says British Muslims should sign charter rejecting violence], theguardian.com, 4 February 2014.
 
*Alex Stevenson, [http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2014/02/05/disgust-in-westminster-as-ukip-mep-stands-by-muslim-charter Disgust in Westminster as Ukip MEP stands by Muslim charter], politics.co.uk, 5 February 2014.
 
*Alex Stevenson, [http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2014/02/05/disgust-in-westminster-as-ukip-mep-stands-by-muslim-charter Disgust in Westminster as Ukip MEP stands by Muslim charter], politics.co.uk, 5 February 2014.
 +
*Asa Bennett, [http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/05/21/gerard-batten-ukip_n_5350598.html Meet Gerard Batten, The UKIP MEP Scare-Mongering About Islam, Immigrants And Bilderberg], Huffington Post, 21 May 2014.
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==

Latest revision as of 15:38, 29 December 2015

Gerard Batten, MEP
EU Insigna.png This article is part of the MEPedia project of Spinwatch.


Gerard Batten (born 27 March 1954, London) is a British MEP for London from UK Independence Party. He also served the previous term (20.07.2004 - 13.07.2009).[1]

Affiliations

Outside of the European Parliament, Batten is a supporter of Better Off Out and anti-EU project of the right-wing libertarian Freedom Association.[2]

Former Affiliations

Record and Controversies

Declaration of Financial Interests

  • Nothing to declare.[3]

CounterJihad connections

Prodi allegation

Batten raised allegations that Romano Prodi was a KGB agent during the 2006 Italian election campaign, at a time when Prodi was the front--runner, according to the EU Reporter:

In his one-minute speech during Strasbourg plenary, Gerard Batten (UK, IN/DEM) told how Alexander Litvinenko, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the FSB, the successor to the KGB, and currently living under political asylum in the UK, was informed by FSB deputy chief, General Anatole Trofimov of the high amount of communist activity operating in Italy. With reference to the KGB, Litvinenko was told, “Romano Prodi is our man there”.[4]

Stop Islamisation of Europe demo petition

On September 11 2007, Batten accepted a petition from Anders Gravers protesting a ban on a Brussels demonstration by Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE).[5]

Counterjihad Europa

Batten spoke at the Counterjihad Brussels 2007 conference in October 2007 alongside far-right figures such as Filip Dewinter of Vlaams Belang Ted Ekeroth of the Sweden Democrats.[6]

'Charter of Muslim Understanding'

The end of Batten's foreword to the proposed 'Charter of Muslim Understanding' which called for special denunciations of violence from Muslims

In 2014 it emerged that Batten had written the foreword for the 2006 'Proposed Charter of Muslim Understanding' authored by former Muslim convert to Christianity and counterjihad activist Sam Solomon. According to anti-Islamophobia monitoring group TellMAMA, he had commissioned Solomon to write it and orginally launched it in Strasbourg in December 2006.[7]

The document suggested Muslims ought to sign a a five-point declaration including a rejection of violence.[8] The Tory MP Robert Halfon called the call 'frightening' and 'sinister', comparing the proposal to a first step towards making Muslims wear 'a yellow star', as Jews were made to in Nazi Germany.[9]

Ban on new mosques in Europe

According to The Guardian, Batten had previously, in 2010, proposed a ban on the building of new mosques across Europe.[8]

Praise and support for Geert Wilders

In 2008, Batten attempted to show anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders' film Fitna, widely regarded as Islamophobic for the way it implied the Koran inevitably inspires violence, in the European parliament. After he was prevented from doing so, he and Wilders held a press conference together.[10]

In 2009, Batten wrote an article for the Freedom Association in which he called WIlders 'brave man trying to defend western civilisation in the face of its own loss of the most basic instinct of self-preservation.'[11]

Far-right friends

Ex-UKIP MEP Nikki Sinclaire has claimed that Batten has been 'hell-bent on attacking Muslims', is 'incredibly paranoid' and 'talks about the gradual takeover by the Muslims of Great Britain and sharia law'. She has also alleged that he is 'very good friends' with far-right European politicians like Dutch MP Geert Wilders and members of Belgium's Vlaams Belang. According to the Huffington Post, she stated 'I often see him in the parliament with those MEPs.'[12]

Meeting with EDL donor and strategist

In March 2011, an article by anti-fascist organisation Searchlight noted that Alan Ayling (aka Alan Lake), then a donor to and strategist for the English Defence League (EDL), had boasted in an interview with the Daily Star, a British tabloid newspaper, of links to Gerard Batten.[13]

As a result, on 7 March 2011, Batten appears to have issued a statement in which he admitted meeting Lake in autumn 2010, knowing he was associated with the EDL. The statement was tweeted by former UKIP aide Jasna Badzak.[14] In it, Batten wrote:

Being aware of the phenomenon of the EDL, I wished to establish my own independent assessment of them. I decided therefore, on my own initiative, to meet with Mr Lake. We met in full public view in a cafe in Liverpool St Station for about an hour or more.
Mr Lake gave me his assurances that the EDL were a non-racist, non-violent organisation and that is only concerned with combating the ideology of extremist and fundamentalist Islamism and had no prejudice against Muslims as such. I decided that no further meetings were either necessary or appropriate.[14]

'Dismantling multiculturalism'

Batten reportedly authored a four-page paper entitled 'Confidential draft – Dismantling Multiculturalism' in 2011, which was sent to members of Christian Concern with whom he also held a meeting. The document argued that multiculturalism had failed, called for a ban on Islamic finance as well as kosher and halal slaughter and stated: 'Islamic fundamentalism is the cuckoo in the western multicultural nest. We can either address it now or be destroyed by it in the course of time'.[15]

In 2010, Christian Concern's Paul Diamond had defended Batten's wife in court in a case over a TV license.[16]

Views

On immigration

In 2010 Batten wrote a paper for UKIP entitled 'Immigration - Action Overdue!', a lengthy document outlining his thoughts at length on the effect of immigration on Britain. It included the claims that due to what he referred to as 'white flight' many parts of Britain are 'more like enclaves of Pakistan, Bengal or India than English cities' and stated that 'the English will become a minority in their own land'.[12]

Personal information

Curriculum Vitae

  • Hand bookbinder (1972-1976). Manager, British Telecom (1976-2004).
  • In the UK Independence Party: founder member (1993).
  • Member of the National Executive Committee (1993-1997, 2002- ).
  • Party Secretary (1994-1997).

Contact

Address: Parlement européen, Bât. Altiero Spinelli, 04F243, 60, rue Wiertz / Wiertzstraat 60, B-1047 Bruxelles/Brussel
Phone:+32 (0)2 28 45920
Email:gerard.batten AT europarl.europa.eu
Website: http://www.gerardbatten.co.uk

Affiliations

Contact

Website: www.gerardbattenmep.com
Email: gerard.batten@btinternet.com
Address: PO Box 2959, Romford, RM7 1QZ
Twitter: @GerardBattenMEP

External resources

Articles

Notes

  1. ↑ European Parliament, MEP Directory: Gerard Batten, accessed 08 September 2010.
  2. ↑ Supporters, Better Off Out, accessed 24 February 2015
  3. ↑ European Parliament, Declaration of Members' Financial Interests: Gerard Batten, 16 June 2009, accessed 03 November 2009.
  4. ↑ Prodi accused of being former Soviet agent, EU Reporter, 3 April 2006, via the Internet Archive.
  5. ↑ Scores arrested in anti-Islam protest in Belgium, Agence France Presse, 11 September 2007.
  6. ↑ CounterJihad Brussels 2007 Conference, accessed 18 February 2007.
  7. ↑ Steven Rose Sam Solomon, Christian Concern and Gerard Batten by Steven Rose, TellMAMA, 16 May 2014, accessed 24 February 2015
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Rowena Mason, Ukip MEP says British Muslims should sign charter rejecting violence, The Guardian, 4 February 2015
  9. ↑ Rowena Mason, Tory MP says Ukip politician's call for Muslim code of conduct is frightening, The Guardian, 5 February 2014
  10. ↑ As Expected: European Parliament Bans Wilders’ Movie, The Brussels Journal, 17 December 2008, accessed 24 February 2015
  11. ↑ Gerard Batten, The Islamist threat to freedom, Freedom Today, February 2009, accessed via the Web Archive 24 February 2015
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Asa Bennett, Meet Gerard Batten, The UKIP MEP Scare-Mongering About Islam, Immigrants And Bilderberg, Huffington Post, 21 May 2014, accessed 24 February 2015
  13. ↑ Nick Lowles, Puppet master, Searchlight, March 2011, accessed via the Web Archive 24 February 2015
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Final tweet tonight-#UKIP MEP Spokesman admits meeting #EDL deputy Lake,connected to Breivik,questioned by Norwaypolice, Twitter, 24 October 2012, accessed 24 February 2015
  15. ↑ Rowena Mason and Rajeev Syal, Ukip MEP who supported Muslim code of conduct urged halal slaughter ban, The Guardian, 5 February 2014
  16. ↑ MEP criticises BBC as a 'politically biased' corporation, Christian Concern, 11 November 2012, accessed 24 February 2015
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