British Euro lawmaker calls women 'sluts'

A veteran lawmaker from the UK Independence Party (UKIP) was stripped of the party whip on Friday after describing a room full of women as "sluts", the party said.

A veteran lawmaker from the UK Independence Party (UKIP) was stripped of the party whip on Friday after describing a room full of women as "sluts", the party said.

Godfrey Bloom, who sits in the European Parliament, had "gone too far", UKIP leader Nigel Farage said earlier.

Farage, who had earlier given a speech to UKIP's annual conference, told the BBC before the decision: "My recommendation is that we now today remove the party whip."

He said 63-year-old Bloom's behaviour had been "selfish" and was overshadowing "all the good things" happening at the conference.

Farage added: "The trouble with Godfrey is that he is not a racist, he's not an extremist or any of those things and he's not even anti-women but he has a sort-of rather old fashioned territorial army sense of humour which does not translate very well in modern Britain."

"What he ought to have learnt is that time and time again he says things that overshadow the whole agenda that UKIP is fighting for."

The whip was withdrawn after a formal disciplinary hearing.