Tommy Robinson supporter Raheem Kassam urges Nigel Farage to return as leader of Ukip

A far-right activist and supporter of Tommy Robinson has publicly urged Nigel Farage to return as Ukip leader.

Raheem Kassam also denied that he, former EDL leader Robinson and former Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon, are “far right”.

In an interview with Radio 4, Kassam told the Today programme that Ukip is facing a “competency problem” and needs a leader who has “name recognition”.

“I would urge – publicly – Nigel Farage to get back into the fold and lead Ukip once again,” he said.

Earlier in the interview Mr Kassam, who is former advisor to Nigel Farage and former editor-in-chief of Breitbart News London, defended Tommy Robinson and Steve Bannon.

Robinson was released from prison on bail on Wednesday after winning an appeal against a contempt of court finding.

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Asked if he was planning to use Robinson’s case to build support for the far-right across Europe, he replied: “There’s nothing far-right about us.

“I’m a Muslim immigrant background chap from Uxbridge in West London. Steve [Bannon] is a Virginia Democrat – he was a Kennedy democrat.”

Mr Kassam added: “We have no truck with ethnic politics, we have no truck with racialist politics. We don’t touch that stuff at all. It’s not in our milieu.

“What we’re going to do over the next couple of months, people are going to see it, is we are going to build a legitimate, a serious, organisation that is doing things legally and above board that will help unite what we think of as patriotic, populist nationalist parties around the continent and we are not going to do anything untoward other than take the rhetorical fight to the extreme left.”

The interview sparked a backlash among Radio 4 listeners, who said it had given a platform to extremism.

One Twitter user said they had “switched off in disgust” while another said the interview was giving Islamaphobes the “oxygen of publicity”.

A BBC spokesperson said: “Martha Kearney’s interview robustly challenged Raheem Kassam’s opinions and assertions on Tommy Robinson and Islam. She also clearly explained the legal points around his release on bail and impending re-trial.

“We believe our job is to give our audience facts, analysis and information, especially in the case of contentious issues which are surrounded by misinformation.”