Sky’s Kate McCann asked Gerard Batten about a ‘rape satire’ tweet by one of UKIP’s European election candidates
UKIP leader Gerard Batten stormed out of an interview with Sky News after he was challenged over tweets by one of the party’s candidates for the European election.
Kate McCann asked Batten about a 2016 tweet by Carl Benjamin, who is standing as UKIP’s MEP for the South West, where he told Labour MP Jess Phillips he “wouldn’t even rape you” and said that “feminism is cancer.”
When pressed over the remarks by the reporter, Batten walked out prematurely.
Here’s an abridged transcript.
McCann: You said it was a satirical comment. What did you mean by that?
Batten: This is a three-year-old tweet that he did in the context of some Twitter trolling.
McCann: I’m not asking about the comments he made, I’m asking about your defence of his comments.
Batten: He has made an ill-considered remark and if you’re going to stop people from taking part in public life or anything else because of some stupid, ill-considered remark of several years past then I don’t think you’d have anybody in parliament because we all do things which we regret.
McCann: That kind of comment has prompted concerns though…
Batten: How many times are you going to ask me the same question? How many times are you going to ask me the same question? [Walks out]
UKIP leader Gerrard Batten stomps out of interview after being quizzed by Sky's Kate McCann over one of his candidate's rape comments about Jess Phillips MP pic.twitter.com/vhMlGahzG4
— Thomas Newton (@SkyTNewton) April 18, 2019
