The new interim leader of a far-right nationalist party in the U.K. stands by his use of hateful rhetoric to describe Islam and British Muslims.

Gerard Batten, who assumed leadership of the U.K. Independence Party on Saturday, reiterated his belief that Islam is a “death cult” in an interview with Sky News.

Batten initially invoked the phrase in a blog he wrote after a terrorist attack near London’s Palace of Westminster in March 2017.