Gerard Batten on Twitter
It's thought that a motion was put before the NEC (National Executive Committee) last Sunday which read:
“Gerard Batten has brought the party into disrepute by his actions and associations and should therefore not be allowed to stand for the leadership of the party.”It's assumed that the NEC is referring to Gerard's association with Tommy Robinson in the form of attending his rallies and appointing him as an advisor on rape gangs and prison reform.
When Gerard Batten inherited UKIP in April 2018, the party was on its knees. Stripped of a reason to exist by the U.K.’s vote to leave the EU, it was rapidly haemorrhaging members and heading toward bankruptcy. Only an emergency request for donations, made by Batten after he became leader, saved it from going under.
When Batten took over the party it had less than 18,000 members, membership is now thought to be over 30,000 according to senior UKIP officials.
Batten saved UKIP from going under, if it wasn't for him the party would no longer exist.
UKIP's NEC are the Party's Worst Nightmare
When Nigel Farage was leader of UKIP he had a lot of issues with UKIP's National Executive Committee (NEC), describing them as a group of amateurs.
Farage was in favour of changing UKIP's constitution to curb the role of the NEC as the party's ultimate decision maker.
In an interview with Sky News, he said, “In my last two years of leading that party I was unable to do any of the things I wanted. I was outvoted by a group of volunteers, who frankly had no political experience at all."
Farage said. “Simply, it’s reform or die. If it goes on being run by a group of amateurs, within 18 months it will be worthless.”
Farage is far from alone in seeking to reform a body many in UKIP believe is a roadblock to change.
One senior UKIP figure, with many years of experience in the party – which topped the vote in the 2014 European elections and won the third-biggest total in 2015’s general election – said the NEC had a long history of delaying or watering down necessary changes, meaning little was actually done.
“The NEC is very good at stopping the leader doing what they want, but it’s not very good at being proactive,” he said. “So it doesn’t really achieve very much. It’s good at throwing spanners in the works, but not very good at managing things.”
Battling with the NEC was one of the reasons Farage stepped down as UKIP leader in mid-2016.
The NEC's 14 current members include Gerard Batten and the party chairman, Kirstan Herriot, but also a number of little-known activists with no experience beyond local politics.
Farage's opinions on the UKIP NEC were published in the Guardian.
