An editor has criticised UKIP’s Welsh Assembly leader after the politician branded one of his journalists “useless” before storming out of an interview with her.

Gareth Bennett, who leads the party in the Senedd, hit out at Wales Online’s Ruth Mosalski for what he claimed was the “worst interview I’ve ever had” after she accused him of patronising her.

Ruth had attempted repeatedly to take Mr Bennett to task on comments he made about the burqa, which he has previously described as being part of an “alien culture”, while he has also compared parts of the Cardiff suburb Canton to “Saudi Arabia”.

She cited the example of a Cardiff-born woman she had interviewed who chooses to wear a face veil, asking why her choice of clothing was different to any other woman’s choice.

Gareth Bennett leaves the interview with Wales Online

Mr Bennett said: “Will you listen? Will you actually try and learn something?”

Ruth responded: “Please don’t patronise me. What’s your answer to that question?”

Deciding at that point to leave the interview, Mr Bennett then replied: “Right, you are a useless interviewer, you come in here with preconceived opinions and ideas, you have no ability to engage with the argument, and that was the worst interview I’ve ever had since [chief reporter Martin] Shipton, who also works for your organisation.”

He then unstrapped his microphone and left the room.

A video and transcript of the full interview is available on the Wales Online site.

Paul Rowland, the site’s editor, posted on Twitter: “I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that it was a female journalist (the excellent Ruth Mosalski) that Gareth Bennett acted so patronisingly and dismissively towards.”

Mr Bennett has previously been banned from speaking at the Senedd after saying there had to be a limit to transgender rights or there would be a “total implosion of society” and claimed before his election in 2016 that “the ethnicities… possibly the Eastern Europeans” were causing litter problems in a Cardiff suburb.

Paul told HTFP: “Gareth Bennett has made the headlines a number of times since joining the Assembly with remarks that have been extraordinarily inflammatory and divisive, even by UKIP’s standards. He’s now been elected the party’s leader in the Senedd.

“Against a backdrop of concern that Islamophobia and the far right in general are being normalised in the way they’re covered by the media, we wanted to hold Mr Bennett’s controversial views up to the scrutiny they demand, especially now that he leads his party in Wales.

“Unfortunately, he proved he wasn’t willing to face up to that challenge.”