UKIP's anti-Islamist candidate Ann Marie Waters declares war on media

In fact Ms Waters - the most controversial of a number of controversial candidates for UKIP leadership - tells me she sees the press and broadcast media as her 'biggest obstacle' as she bids to succeed Paul Nuttall in the hotseat.

We're sitting in a back room at the Greets Green Sports Bar in West Bromwich, where Ms Waters is preparing to tell a small gathering of party members why she is the one to lead UKIP out of the doldrums and into a new dawn.

The media, she says, in an accent crafted on the streets of Dublin, are out to get her by branding her an obsessive anti-Islamist.

"My core aim is to challenge and dismantle this entire mess of a media," she says.

Six months ago Ms Waters was a relative unknown.

The 40-year-old former NHS worker joined UKIP after quitting the Labour party, largely because she says she could see it heading in a 'hard left direction'.

She heads the anti-Islam group Sharia Watch, has appeared with former EDL leader Tommy Robinson during her leadership campaign, and has described Islam as 'evil' - a comment she stands by to this day.

"I have every right to say what I like about a religion and there should be nothing outrageous about it," she said, adding that when it comes to Islam: "I think millions of people in this country agree with me."

Her objections to Islam are many, with 'the monstrosity of female genital mutilation' and 'rape gangs' issues she is keen to address.

Her manifesto calls for UKIP to 'publicly acknowledge that Islamic culture is simply not compatible with our own'.

She describes the 'Islamification of Britain' as 'obviously a threat to free speech', but rejects claims from critics that she is UKIP's 'far right candidate'.

"I'm not right wing and I'm not left wing," she said.

"I'm an issue by issue politician. I'm a democrat, essentially." She describes herself as 'staunchly pro-NHS and pro-welfare state', adding: "I'm also pro-British culture and British identity, and European cultures and identity.

"I'd like us to preserve Europe as we know it for future generations."

Ms Waters makes it clear that she could not care less if her views cause offence. "Everyone's offended all the time," she says.

"We get over it. It's called being a grown up. I'm not going to bend over backwards to not cause offence.

"I'm offended by many of the things that are written in the Quran, but noone is concerned about me being offended, or the millions of non-Muslims who are offended, so why should we be so concerned about offence in the other direction?"

But she insists there is more to her than simply being the anti-Islam candidate. "I didn't start out talking about Islam," she said. "Just dealing with the crimes in this country brought me to it.

"I want a quiet life. I'd love to go home and play with my dogs, but someone has to say this stuff."

Ms Waters says she wants 'a new conversation about Brexit', with UKIP teaming up with other anti-EU movements across Europe to get rid of the 'shaky' EU.

"I don't think we'll ever completely be free of it until it has gone," she said.

She also wants UKIP to be the party of the NHS and says law and order must be a key issue, in particular the reversal of 'the racialisation of policing' following the Macpherson inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence.

She has also pledged a US-style constitution to halt Britian's 'identity crisis'.

The new UKIP leader is set to be announced on September 29 and Ms Waters firmly believes she can win, although she admits her first job will be to face up to the many naysayers in her own party.

The majority of the party's 20 MEPs have said they will quit UKIP if she is elected leader, although Ms Waters says she is convinced that not all of them will leave.

"Regardless of who wins the party will change," she tells me, suggesting it was time for UKIP to have a 'clear message' following Mr Nuttall's 'uninspiring' leadership.

She says she expects 'a bit of a kerfuffle' if she wins, and has vowed to 'stay quiet' in the days following the election until people 'get whatever panic they have out of their systems'.

"I need to meet all of the MEPs and try to show them that I don't actually have two heads and that I have the interest of this country at heart," she said.

"When they understand that and they know a little bit of me, rather than what they've read, then they'll calm down a little bit.

"They can walk away, it's up to them, or they can sit down and give me a chance, and realise that I've been elected by the party and respect it.

"If they find they really can't do it then I'm afraid we'll have to part ways."

Taking the stage in front of 18 people, the candidate who desperately wants the media not to focus on her anti-Islam stance, opened up by talking about a recent report that said more than 6,000 child abuse allegations have been made in Sandwell over the last five years.

"We can't say that was all down to Asian grooming gangs," she said, "but let's use our common sense, it is bound to be a large part of it."