As Ukip's spokesman for immigration, Gerard Batten MEP, a former candidate for mayor of London, has decried the "explosion of mosques" across Europe and claimed he would "refuse applications for new mosques until there's a non-Muslim place of worship in Mecca and Medina".
Batten, who represents London in the European parliament, doesn't seem to have noticed that he might be missing a vote here and there in the May European elections, given that one in seven Londoners is Muslim.
[A COMMENT] Odious though he may be 1. He is, as you point out, elected. Ms Aly gets paid to promote Islam for a living. She doesn't have a constituency. 2. The census figures from 2011 characterise slightly less than 1/8th identifying themselves as muslim, not 1/7, and there isn't any data to identify or further classify into lapsed/disinterested/just by heritage etc. Clumsy, racist, misguided or whatever, Batten is at least trying to deal with a genuine issue. Fundamentalists are receiving support from muslims in the UK.
[ANOTHER COMMENT] Although his sartorial taste is rather eccentric none of his suggestions for Islamic reform are in any way unreasonable.
[ANOTHER] I've just spent an afternoon working with a friend of mine who is a Muslim. In fact I have quite few friends who are Muslims. I do work for Muslims and go to shops owned by Muslims. .... But I support UKIP. [Guardian Cif] Read more
