Senior Ukip MEP quits and Nigel Farage warns party could be ‘finished’ after far-right anti-Islam campaigner is approved to stand in leadership election
Anne Marie Waters has been given the go ahead to run as a leadership candidate following Paul Nuttall's resignation in the aftermath of the dismal election results.
THE future of Ukip is once again under threat as a proud Islamophobe running for leadership prompts the resignation of a senior MEP.
Anne Marie Waters, who founded an anti-Islam pressure group, is one of 11 people cleared to stand by the Ukip national executive committee.
The decision has triggered senior Ukip MEP Mike Hookem to quit his post as a party whip today after the chief whip, Stuart Agnew, declared his support for Waters.
Refusing to "turn a blind eye" to extremism, Hookem said in a statement: "I strongly disagree with the views Ms Waters and Mr Agnew promote and I would like to put as much distance between me and them as possible.
"If I were to continue in my position of deputy whip, I would be seen as supporting or at the very least turning a blind eye to extreme views and this is not something I am prepared to do.
"I am not a racist and have never campaigned on race issues. While I do believe in controlled immigration, this position is about 'space rather than race'; and I am not prepared to support someone who seeks to single out a section of our society simply due to their religious beliefs."
Waters' candidacy has divided the party, with some members threatening to quit if she wins the race to succeed Paul Nuttall.
Former leader Nigel Farage has warned Ukip will be "finished" if it goes down the road of becoming an anti-Islam party.
The 39-year-old wannabe Ukip leader is founder of the Sharia Watch pressure group who has called Islam "evil".
She began her political life as a Labour supporter before twice standing unsuccessfully to become a parliamentary candidate.
She left the party in 2013 over concerns the party was heading too far to the left.
She now refuses to ever support Labour again, after accusing it of “betraying" the country over its refusal to oppose Islam.
The now right-winger helped to establish Pegida UK, an anti-Islam protest movement which staged a silent march in Birmingham last year alongside the former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson.
The favourite to win the leadership contest is Peter Whittle, Ukip's current deputy leader.
He has called for the growth of Islamic Sharia courts in Britain to be curtailed.
Whittle told BBC Radio 4: "Ukip has always been a party that does talk about issues that other people do not like to talk about," he said.
"There are at least 80 courts that we know about. The problem is that the people who suffer the most in these courts tend to be women because they are often about domestic issues and often women who go before the courts don't actually know their rights as a British woman.
"There has got to be one legal system. Certain things happen in Sharia courts which do go against the spirit of our laws."
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Other candidates approved to stand in the election include Ukip deputy leader Peter Whittle, MEPs David Coburn and Jane Collins, and London Assembly member David Kurten.
The contest was triggered by Mr Nuttall's decision to stand down following the collapse of the party's vote in the general election in June.
Ballot papers will be issued on September 1 and the new leader will be announced at Ukip's conference in Torquay on September 29.
The full list of candidates is: David Allen, Henry Bolton, David Coburn, Jane Collins, David Kurten, Marion Mason, Aidan Powlesland, John Rees-Evans, Ben Walker, Anne Marie Waters and Peter Whittle.
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