In an interview with the Daily Star leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) Gerard Batten has spoken out against joining former White House strategist Steve Bannon's right-wing project. He explained the decision by saying that despite being euroskeptical in nature, such right-wing parties often have different agendas and that it would be wrong to "unite [them] under one banner."
"That won't work because […] the people on the continent want different things — stand for different things," he said.
Batten further noted that UKIP wouldn't be "trotting along" to find out what Steve Bannon thinks about a party's political direction and how it should change. The UKIP leader added that he, personally is "not a big admirer" of Bannon and that he has "no feelings one way or another" about the former Trump strategist, but admitted that Bannon is "an interesting guy."
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Steve Bannon announced the creation of the right-wing project called the Movement, tasked with helping European right-wing parties to win 1\3 of seats in the EU Parliament. At the time, no one except UKIP showed an interest in the Movement, with one MEP from Batten's party endorsing Bannon's efforts to counter Soros in Europe.
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Alexander Gauland, one of two co-leaders of the right-wing party Alternative for Germany also expressed skepticism regarding Bannon's chances for success in Europe, citing the peculiarities of European right-wing parties.
