UKIP expel Nikki Sinclaire MEP in dispute over ‘extremist’ links

This week The Times reported the exit of Ukip Euro-MP Nikki Sinclaire:

The UK Independence Party has expelled one of its MEPs after she refused to sit with its right-wing Italian allies in the European Parliament and fell out with former leader Nigel Farage…

Ms Sinclaire, 41, an MEP for the West Midlands, insisted that she wanted to stay with the party but would not join UKIP’s alliance in Strasbourg with the “extremist” Northern League of Italy. She has also said that she lost faith in Mr Farage because of his “personal animosity” towards her…

UKIP has a track record for losing MEPs, having entered the last European Parliament in 2004 with 12 and finishing with nine after two expulsions and the walkout by Robert Kilroy-Silk, the former television presenter.

UPDATE: Nikki Sinclaire subsequently set up her own ‘We Demand A Referendum Now’ party and was then defeated in the 2014 European Parliament elections.