Difference between revisions of "Gerard Batten"
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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> | + | 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]]. According to anti-Muslim 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> |
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| + | 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=== | ||
Revision as of 10:34, 24 February 2015
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]
Contents
Affiliations
- Member, Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
- Substitute, Committee on Legal Affairs
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
- Member, Subcommittee on Security and Defence
- Substitute, Committee on Foreign Affairs
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]
SIOE
On September 11 2007, Batten accepted a petition from Anders Gravers protesting a ban on a Brussels demonstration by Stop Islamisation of Europe.[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'
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. According to anti-Muslim 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]
'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'.[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
- European Parliament, Declaration of Members' Financial Interests: Gerard Batten, 16 June 2009, accessed 03 November 2009.
- European Parliament, MEP Directory: Gerard Batten, accessed 05 February 2009.
- European Parliament, MEP Directory: Gerard Batten, accessed 08 September 2010.
Articles
- Farage rejects far-right extremists courted by his UKIP MEP colleague, 15 November 2013.
- Rowena Mason, Ukip MEP says British Muslims should sign charter rejecting violence, theguardian.com, 4 February 2014.
- Alex Stevenson, Disgust in Westminster as Ukip MEP stands by Muslim charter, politics.co.uk, 5 February 2014.
Notes
- ↑ European Parliament, MEP Directory: Gerard Batten, accessed 08 September 2010.
- ↑ Supporters, Better Off Out, accessed 24 February 2015
- ↑ European Parliament, Declaration of Members' Financial Interests: Gerard Batten, 16 June 2009, accessed 03 November 2009.
- ↑ Prodi accused of being former Soviet agent, EU Reporter, 3 April 2006, via the Internet Archive.
- ↑ Scores arrested in anti-Islam protest in Belgium, Agence France Presse, 11 September 2007.
- ↑ CounterJihad Brussels 2007 Conference, accessed 18 February 2007.
- ↑ Steven Rose Sam Solomon, Christian Concern and Gerard Batten by Steven Rose, TellMAMA, 16 May 2014, accessed 24 February 2015
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Rowena Mason, Ukip MEP says British Muslims should sign charter rejecting violence, The Guardian, 4 February 2015
- ↑ Rowena Mason, Tory MP says Ukip politician's call for Muslim code of conduct is frightening, The Guardian, 5 February 2014
- ↑ As Expected: European Parliament Bans Wilders’ Movie, The Brussels Journal, 17 December 2008, accessed 24 February 2015
- ↑ Gerard Batten, The Islamist threat to freedom, Freedom Today, February 2009, accessed via the Web Archive 24 February 2015
- ↑ Rowena Mason and Rajeev Syal, Ukip MEP who supported Muslim code of conduct urged halal slaughter ban, The Guardian, 5 February 2014
