UKIP’s Patrick O’Flynn has quits his party over Gerard Batten’s embrace of Tommy Robinson… and joined the rump SDP. Former Political Editor of the Daily Express, O’Flynn was quite a coup for Farage’s UKIP when he joined the party in 2014. He now becomes the third elected official of the party, as it already has two town councillors. Will the last MEP to leave UKIP please turn out the lights…

Brexodus: UKIP have now lost 10 of the 24 MEPs elected in 2014… Jonathan Arnott, Janice Atkinson, Amjad Bashir, James Carver, William Dartmouth, Roger Helmer, Bill Etheridge, Diane James, Patrick O’Flynn, and Steven Woolfe.

UPDATE: Guido has been reminded of what O’Flynn said in interview with BrexitCentral in February 2017…

“He [Farage] seems to be worried people like me are crypto-SDP [supporters] and he couldn’t be more wrong. But we want to be a mainstream party, that’s how you win elections.”

It seems as if Farage was right after all..!

h/t: David Scullion

UPDATE II: The SDP have been in touch to tell Guido they are “delighted” by this defection and that today is “a great day for social democracy.”

“The SDP is delighted that Patrick O’Flynn MEP has joined the party. It’s a great day for the resurgent SDP and a great day for social democracy. We believe that millions of British people will support the communitarian approach to politics in our New Declaration.”

“Our aim is to provide a political home to all social democrats who seek a stronger more capable state along with greater individual responsibility, trust and social solidarity. We have consistently supported the nation-state as the upper limit – and the defining unit – of democracy. The SDP believes the 2016 referendum vote must be respected.”

UKIP’s astute new leader has fallen for joke twitter account called “GuardianMemeWin“. The account describes itself as “the most insufferable newspaper parody account ever” in its twitter bio. Batten’s analysis was retweeted by the official UKIP twitter account…

Beleaguered Batten is not the only one to have fallen foul of a fake account. Yesterday evening CCHQ retweeted a fake, unverified Philip Hammond account. It even spelled his first name incorrectly…

After making that mistake too many times Guido tends to block parody accounts…

UKIP MEP Jonathan Bullock reports excitedly that “The union flag now flies above the British residency in Brussels” following his campaign to get the flag put back up after it was mysteriously removed. In fact a member of staff in the residency was so pleased the flag was back up that they offered to take the photo. To save their foreign office career Guido will not reveal who it was. You can however discount regular occupant Olly Robbins…

Jonathan hopes: “Now that the flag is restored perhaps we can see a sound Brexit policy restored to deliver what the people voted for over two years ago.” Steady on Jonathan, it has taken weeks just to get them to fly the flag…

The exodus of UKIP MEPs is starting to turn from a trickle into a flood with Bill Etheridge becoming the latest Kipper to quit the party in protest at Gerard Batten’s leadership.

Etheridge accused Batten of allowing his “personal obsessions” to change the party “beyond all recognition” in a stinging resignation statement:

“The changes you have made since becoming leader have changed the party beyond all recognition. You have allowed your personal obsessions free reign. The party is now seen by large swathes of the British public as a vehicle for hate towards Muslims and the Gay community…”

Batten has bitten back in characteristic style:

“I hope that Mr Etheridge will do the decent and honourable thing and resign his seat, thereby handing it back to UKIP to which it morally belongs.

“I am sure the loss of his salary, daily allowance, and pension rights would be a small price to pay for a man of principle such as he.

“It was a great pity that Mr Etheridge was unable to make it to the UKIP Conference in Birmingham last month where he could have witnessed the party members fully behind my leadership – the people who put him in the seat he currently holds by dint of their efforts and donations.”

At this rate, will Batten even have any UKIP MEPs left by the time Britain leaves the EU next March?

William Dartmouth MEP has written to UKIP leader Gerrard Batten resigning his position from the party, which he has represented in the European Parliament since 2009. In an explosive letter he eviscerates Batten for the way in which he has “hi-jacked” the party, and declares that he will continue to sit as an independent MEP.

“At a time when our founding cause of leaving the EU is at risk, you have chosen instead to campaign against Islam as a religion… That is not the UKIP that I joined… To put it simply, you have hi-jacked the UK Independence Party.”

Dartmouth is a hereditary peer who sat in the Lords until Blair’s reforms came into effect in 1999. He isn’t the first UKIP MEP to step back from Batten’s party, and he probably won’t be the last…

UPDATE: Batten hits back…

Dear Lord Dartmouth,

Thank you for your letter of resignation. I have received this without regret, and I am sure that my relief in receiving it exceeds your relief in sending it.

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UKIP leader Gerard Batten was flushed with embarrassment after he missed the start of his eve-of-conference talkRADIO interview with Julia Hartley-Brewer this morning for “personal reasons”. Her producer had already got him on the line when he disappeared. The prospect of Julia’s fearsomely tough questions clearly loosened his bowels. For a moment the producer thought they had been dumped. The subject matter of Julia’s cheeky question pushed the interview into a sticky situation. After passing that initial conversational blockage, the sit-down interview was back on a roll…