A frontrunner in the race to be UKIP's next leader is probably "too extreme" to be allowed to stand, a party AM has said.
Anne Marie Waters has described Islam as evil.
Waters made two unsuccessful attempts to be selected as a Labour Party candidate: she first sought selection for South Swindon, then in 2013 she was shortlisted to be Labour's candidate in Brighton Pavilion. The seat was eventually held by the Greens Caroline Lucus.
After leaving the Labour Party, Waters contested the Clapham Common ward for UKIP in the 2014 Lambeth Council election, where she finished in ninth place. At the 2015 general election, Waters stood as the UKIP candidate in the seat of Lewisham East in southeast London, finishing in third place with 9.1% of the vote. During the campaign, Waters called for mass deportations, "many" mosque closures and an end to immigration from majority-Muslim countries.
She was initially chosen to stand as a UKIP candidate in the 2016 London Assembly election, but was deselected when her role in Pegida UK became public] She was permitted to stand for UKIP in the Essex County Council election, 2017[8] but failed to be elected.
Waters was again chosen to be the UKIP candidate for Lewisham East in the 2017 general election but was deselected after party leader Paul Nuttall described her views as "way above and beyond party policy".
She is one of several hopefuls who face vetting for UKIP's leadership election
David Rowlands, who will chair a leadership hustings in Newport on Wednesday where she will appear, said it is not the image he wants UKIP to have.
As well as Ms Waters, other leadership hopefuls at the meeting include London assembly member David Kurten, David Allen and former UKIP councillor Ben Walker.
Nathan Gill, UKIP's MEP for Wales and an independent AM who has said the party should not become anti-Islam, is understood to be unhappy about the prospect of Ms Waters being a leadership candidate.
It has been suggested several of the party's MEPs will resign if she wins.
Prehaps the question that should be asked is if a member is to extreme to be allowed to be a candidate let alone leader then should she be allowed to be a member.
If Ukip believe that being a member of the senior management of the anti-Islam group Pegida UK alongside Tommy Robinson, former leader of the English Defence League and Paul Weston, leader of the nationalist Liberty GB. is unacceptable then it should start looking at claims that in early July, over a thousand new members had joined the party in only two weeks, leading to accusations of far-right infiltration in support of Waters.Jack Buckby, a former member of the British National Party and Liberty GB, is reported to be helping Waters in her campaign..
Mind you Labour should be looking at how someone with Ms Waters was shortlisted only four years ago fr what was a marginal seat and Labour target.
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