Morrissey praised by far-right party leader for 'support' after wearing badge at New York gig

Controversial singer caught the attention of notorious far-right politician Anne Marie Waters

The leader of the far-right party For Britain has thanked Morrissey after he was seen wearing a badge supporting the group in public.

Anne Marie Waters, a notorious anti-Islam campaigner who founded the party in 2017 after being defeated in the race for Ukip leadership, posted a video on where she claimed the badges had “sold out” after the images of Morrissey emerged.

He was seen wearing the badge during his New York residency, as well as for a performance on the Tonight Show.

“Thank you so much for your support since the Ukip leadership election,” Waters said in the video. “Thank you for giving us so much publicity."

"I can tell you that the traffic to our website exploded with the story breaking of you wearing the For Britain button badge, which you have been wearing everywhere from what I can see…" she continued. "We have sold out of those, but the good news is we have more, and they have been selling like hot cakes, so thank you very much for doing that.”

“Thank you also to the Daily Mail for your hysterical coverage of this. It has brought loads of people to the party. We’ve grown in membership, products have been selling, and website traffic is huge. Thank you, Morrissey. I hope to meet you one day. Thank you, Daily Mail. Keep up the hysterical smearing. It’s having the opposite effect. You are driving people to us. Thanks.”

Morrissey previously expressed support for the party last year, claiming it was the first time in his life that he felt inclined to vote for a political party.

“For Britain has received no media support and have even been dismissed with the usual childish ‘racist’ accusation," he said in an interview with fan Fiona Dodwell. "I don’t think the word ‘racist’ has any meaning any more, other than to say “you don’t agree with me, so you’re a racist.” People can be utterly, utterly stupid."

Nigel Farage, former Ukip leader and current leader of the Brexit Party, once reportedly described Waters’ supporters as “Nazis and racists”.