Sunder Katwala, director of the British Future thinktank, said: “The intended message may be about being crusaders. Ukip has a strong focus on Britain being a Christian land and specifically are campaigning to scrap the government funding protective security measures for mosques, which have experienced hate crimes and attacks.”
Nick Tenconi, a personal trainer who became Ukip’s leader last year, has been at the forefront of efforts to steer the party in an explicitly Christian nationalist direction. “I will deploy the military in Britain to round up and deport the Islamists, illegals and the communists,”* Tenconi told a Ukip gathering in October, in a message that continues to be pumped out on Ukip social media channels. He is also the chief operating officer of Turning Point UK, the British offshoot of the conservative pressure group founded by the US activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated last year.
*A message approved by at least one member here.