SIR – A few weeks ago you printed a story about how Ukip candidates in the upcoming elections had elected to hide their addresses on the ballot sheets. Now we might have an explanation – disassociation. 

It turns out that the seismic lurch to the far right is well under way under the stewardship of Gerard Batten. 

Batten has described Islam as a ‘death cult’. His ‘interim’ Ukip manifesto calls for Muslim-only prisons and an abolition of hate crime laws. In 2006, he suggested that all 3.7 million Muslims in the UK should sign a code of good conduct. Tory MP Robert Halfon said this was ‘literally akin to the Nazis saying Jews should wear a yellow star’”. Note: Rob Halfon is Jewish.

After Batten secured himself an interview with the host on The Andy Marr Show last weekend, and in doing so precipitated the resignation of three female MEPs by excusing Carl Benjamin’s infamous Jess Phillips “rape Tweet” as “satire”, questions have begun to be asked about who else the new-look Ukip may be cosying up to. And one very obvious connection has so far been overlooked.

At the ‘Brexit Betrayal’ march, Ukip flags flew alongside those of Generation Identity – a pan-European far-right white nationalist movement that seeks to protect the ‘indigenous population’ by preserving ‘the cultural heritage that has characterised our countries’. It’s all about US WHITES versus THEM OTHERS.

While Generation Identity has struggled to make much of an impact in the UK, it would now appear that Batten is happy for Ukip to rub shoulders with the burgeoning movement – whose ideas featured heavily in the Christchurch terrorist’s manifesto. 

In its battle to remain relevant, it seems UKIP is attempting to harness far right ethno-nationalist identity politics – something of a growth area.

Generation Identity’s USP is the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory. Ukip figures get very touchy when it is pointed out that this is an explicitly racist idea. But, here’s the rub, you can’t have a non-racist version of it.

And to cap it all - on Thursday, we had the unedifying scene of one of his new breed of top table lieutenants, Carl Benjamin, doubling down on his views that joking and tweeting about raping women is acceptable. 

As a result, a prominent female MP is consulting lawyers about those and other false personal comments that he made. 

But the “Rape Tweet” is the very least of Carl Benjamin’s lapses. Ms McCann of Sky News and her fellow journalists have yet to explore his 9/11 Truther musings, including his conviction that two aircraft could not have brought down the World Trade Centre towers. They haven’t yet picked up on his apparent excusing of paedophilia, especially over the age of consent. A vote for Ukip is a vote for rape apologist, far-right, conspiracy theorists – a busted flush – no wonder their candidates don’t wish their details to be fully published.

Sean Boylan

Worcester