Ukip says don't join the army until after Brexit because it's under 'foreign military command'

Party leader Gerard Batten branded 'ridiculous' after reacting with fury to UK soldiers in Bosnia sporting EU flag

Ukip has urged Britons not to join the armed forces until after Brexit because they are “under a foreign military command”.

Gerard Batten, the party’s leader, was branded “ridiculous” after reacting with fury to UK soldiers on operations in Bosnia wearing the European Union flag on their uniforms.

“No one should now join the British army until we have left the EU and this has all been reversed,” Mr Batten said.

“Our soldiers are no longer fighting for Queen and Country but under a foreign military command.

"Our ancestors, the heroes of The Armada, Waterloo, Trafalgar, Passchendaele, El-Alamein, and others too numerous to mention, did not fight so that their descendants could serve under the flag of a foreign power.”

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “For goodness sake, this is ridiculous. We’d have lost the war if we’d have refused to work with our allies.”

But Mr Batten said it was only after the UK left the EU that “we will be able to rebuild our military into a force which serves the interests of our nation first and foremost. Meanwhile, British men and women should vote with their feet and not join the armed forces.”

The comments come as Ukip still struggles to rebuild after imploding over the past three years, losing no fewer than three leaders.

It was forced to turn to members to raise emergency funding to meet huge legal bills which threatened the party with bankruptcy.

Mr Batten is an interim leader – having vowed to resign by next April, serving just one year – but has claimed his party is "now safe" after raising more than £300,000 from supporters.

An MOD spokesperson said: “It is untrue to suggest this is the first time our soldiers have worn EU badges, just as it is untrue to say they don’t wear the Union Flag. They have worn both since the mission in Bosnia And Herzegovina began in 2004, much like UN and NATO operations where the respective badges are on uniforms.”