Via ITV

UPDATE: ITV release a second picture of Woolfe being treated by paramedics:

UPDATE: UKIP MEP Nathan Gill says Woolfe is “conscious and recovering”.

Plain speaking Mike Hookem, UKIP’s defence spokesman who served 9 years in the Royal Engineers, latterly as a Commando Engineer, is unavailable for comment. Sources say he was very angry about reports that Steven Woolfe was on the verge of joining the Tories last week.  The MEP for Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire’s staff say they can’t get hold of him either…

According to reports Steven Woolfe has collapsed in the European Parliament. ITV say he is being tended to by medics. Everyone at Guido wishes him a speedy recovery.

UPDATE: UKIP say he has been taken to hospital.

UPDATE II: According to Nigel Farage, Woolfe was involved in an “altercation” and his condition is “serious“. There are reports he was punched by a UKIP colleague.

UPDATE III: Sky News and the Telegraph report Woolfe has “bleeding on the brain”.

Nigel Farage’s former top aide Raheem Kassam has entered the race for UKIP leader, Guido can reveal. A website called MakeUKIPGreatAgain.com has been set up by Kassam’s campaign team, and he tells Guido:

“I, like ordinary UKIP members, am so tired of the chicanery at the top of this party. There is so much corruption. There is so much duplicity. There are so many people shaking hands with one another and then knifing them in private. It has to stop.

I’m clear about what I stand for: a strong, united UKIP, free of the Tory splitters. I want this party to continue to be the driving force behind Brexit. I want us to address the deep cultural and social divides in this country. I want us to champion causes like Justice for Marine A and tackle the scourge of Islamism in our schools, prisons, and communities. I want us to become the real opposition and put this feckless Labour Party to bed.

UKIP has a positive future in a sovereign Britain, but it won’t happen unless someone with some courage and willpower does something about the internal fractures. I want to Make UKIP Great Again.”

Raheem, a recently renewed UKIP member as of two months ago, says he is running for leader but is open to offers to be a credible candidate’s deputy too. Can Trump cope without him?

Guido understands Steven Woolfe seriously considered defecting to the Tories this weekend, before it emerged Diane James was standing down. Woolfe met with several top Tories over the last few weeks and was close to agreeing to join the party. It is understood that David Davis and Patrick McLoughlin were involved in trying to woo him over. Woolfe admits in a statement:

“I have been enthused by the start to Theresa May’s premiership. Her support of new grammar schools, her words on social mobility and the growing evidence that she is committed to a clean Brexit prompted me, as it did many of my friends and colleagues, to wonder whether our future was within her new Conservative Party.”

What was it about the vacancy at the top of UKIP that made him change his mind?

UKIP’s Steven Woolfe has just confirmed on Sky News that he is standing for the leadership. He attacked the National Executive Committee describing it as “no longer fit for purpose” because it prevented him from standing in the last election and disputed the fact that he got his papers in late. Woolfe praised Diane James for her “incredibly brave move” to stand down for family reasons and hinted that she had been facing opposition from the NEC. Papers Please…