Godfrey Bloom: UKIP MEP Calls Women 'Sluts'

Outspoken UKIP politician Godfrey Bloom has sparked a new row by calling women "sluts" at the party's conference.

The MEP, who started a furore this summer by claiming taxpayers' money was being wasted on foreign aid sent to "Bongo Bongo Land", was involved in an extraordinary row on Friday.

He argued with Sky News after he was challenged about a comment made at a fringe meeting at the party's annual gathering in London.

The event was designed to promote the advancement of women in politics. After two female UKIP members joked they did not clean behind the fridge, Mr Bloom admits he joked: "This place is full of sluts."

"I made a joke and said 'oh well, you're all sluts' and everybody laughed and all the women laughed," he said afterwards.

"Was there a single woman in there who didn't laugh at the joke?"

The politician dubbed Sky's Darren McCaffrey a "sad little man" after he pointed out the word "sluts" could be considered highly derogatory.

He then set off down the street but managed to have another clash with Channel 4 reporter Michael Crick en route.

Mr Crick had held up UKIP's conference book, which proclaims the party is "changing the face of politics", and asked why it did not feature any ethnic minorities.

Mr Bloom called the reporter a "racist" and rapped him over the head with the book before leaping into a taxi.

Before he sped off, he said: "What a racist comment. How dare you? That's an appalling thing to say. You're picking people out for the colour of your skin? You disgust me."

Mr Bloom also reportedly told ITV correspondent Paul Brand: "You treat me badly, you'll get a lot worse than that (Crick's slap)...that is a threat to any journalist."

UKIP leader Nigel Farage told Sky News that Mr Bloom should lose the party whip for his "selfish and stupid" comments. He said he would speak to UKIP chairman Steve Crowther about the matter at 6pm.

The row came just hours after Mr Farage had tried to brush off controversial comments by his party members as "occasional difficulties".

He also revealed, in his conference speech to delegates, that he had had a "blistering row" with Mr Bloom only days ago.

The party will be furious that the leader's address, in which he warned of a UKIP "earthquake" at next year's European elections, has been overshadowed.

Mr Bloom, MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, later insisted his comment was harmless.

He wrote on Twitter: "Made a purposely outrageous joke among friends which was taken as joke by women present.

"It should not be taken out of context and misinterpreted by a hostile press."

The politician is no stranger to controversy. He first raised eyebrows this summer by claiming taxpayers' money was being wasted on foreign aid sent to "Bongo Bongo Land".

And then last month he suggested women were more suited to "finding mustard in the pantry" than driving cars. He also called 20th century feminists "shrill, bored, middle class women of a certain physical genre".