As Ukip welcomes Katie Hopkins as a member, Lizzie Dearden looks at the party’s journey into the far right.

Gerard Batten has officially stepped down as leader of Ukip after facing a crushing defeat in the EU elections.

Gerard Batten's advisor Tommy Robinson and YouTuber Carl Benjamin also fail in bids to be elected. / Ukip's leader has lost his seat at the European Parliament elections, in the latest blow for the disintegrating eurosceptic party.

Since the Brexit vote in 2016, Ukip is no longer primarily concerned with attacking the EU. Now led by Gerard Batten, the party has started to normalise far-right ideas and has given roles to figures including Tommy Robinson.

Candidate who made remarks about raping MP could be public order risk, says cathedral. / Exeter Cathedral has banned a Ukip candidate from taking part in hustings for Thursday’s European elections, saying he may be a risk to public order.

Hate-filled platform has no restrictions on antisemitic, misogynist or racist content. / Leading figures on the far right, including Ukip candidates in the upcoming European elections, are encouraging their followers to join a new hate-filled social media platform. The network, called Gab, has no restrictions on antisemitic, misogynist or racist content, and has been used to promote terrorism.

European election candidate Carl Benjamin has added to original comments on YouTube. / Police are investigating comments by a Ukip candidate in the European elections speculating about whether he would rape the MP Jess Phillips amid growing concern over threats to politicians.

Jess Phillips has called for the Electoral Commission to impose 'standards' on political candidates after the comments from Carl Benjamin

UKIP candidate Carl Benjamin (AKA Sargon of Akkad) has produced a disgusting, “deliberately offensive” slur-ridden video.

Carl Benjamin made remarks after 2014 US murders by man who blamed women who rejected him sexually. / A leading Ukip candidate for the European elections argued that feminism was responsible for a rise in the number of men carrying out mass murders, because the killers felt disenfranchised and “out of options”, it has emerged.

A Ukip election candidate has refused to apologise for sending a rape tweet to Labour’s Jess Phillips, as the anti-EU party kicked off its European election campaign at a chaotic event.

Three female MEPs have quit UKIP after the party's leader Gerard Batten defended a candidate's comments about rape as "satire".

The private gaming community used by a YouTube star-turned-UKIP-candidate to recruit supporters for his European election campaign is rife with white supremacism, anti-Semitism, support for the Christchurch mosque terrorist, and discussions about murdering members of the European parliament.

Ukip leader Gerard Batten has described a rape tweet sent by one of his party’s election candidates to Labour MP Jess Phillips as satire.