Gerard Batten MEP |
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Batten with protesters outside parliament
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UKIP Spokesperson on Brexit | |
Assumed office 29 November 2016 |
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Leader | Paul Nuttall |
Preceded by | position established |
Member of the European Parliament for London |
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Assumed office 10 June 2004 |
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Preceded by | Lord Bethell |
Personal details | |
Born |
London, United Kingdom |
27 March 1954
Nationality | British |
Political party | UK Independence Party |
Residence | Forest Gate, London (private) |
Website |
Official website europarl...GERARD BATTEN |
Gerard Joseph Batten (born 27 March 1954 in London) is a politician and Member of the European Parliament for London for the UK Independence Party (UKIP). He was first elected in 2004.
He was a founding member of UKIP in September 1993. He was the first Party Secretary from 1994 to 1997. He has fought local elections, a by-election, a European election, and two general elections as a UKIP candidate. As well as his seat in the European Parliament he is a member of UKIP's National Executive Committee.
Batten was appointed a member of the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Security and Defence in July 2004, and shortly afterwards was also appointed UKIP's official spokesman on Security and Defence. In this role, he has attacked the Labour government's plans to introduce Identity Cards. He has been a vocal opponent of the European Arrest Warrant.
Before becoming an MEP he was a salesman for British Telecom for 28 years. At the 2007 UK Independence Party conference, he was selected as the party's candidate to contest the London mayoral election, 2008. He stood in the 2009 UKIP leadership election, coming second.
In April 2006, Batten stated that a London constituent and former FSB agent, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Litvinenko, had been told that Italian Prime Minister and former President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, had been the KGB's "man in Italy", demanding an inquiry into the allegations.