Nigel Farage picks up the pieces in Leicester

The UKIP leader was in Leicester yesterday, reports the Leicester Mercury, to survey the smoking ruins of his party's contribution to the city's politics.

This, you may recall, features a Mayoral candidate who has disappeared and a candidate in the Leicester South by-election whose disappearance would be widely welcolmed.

The latest news from the by-election candidate, Abhijit Pandya, is that he has:

issued a statement yesterday apologising for including the phrase "forced repatriation" in his blog.

He said: "This does not accurately convey the point I was trying to make and is not in any way part of UKIP policy.

"The point I was trying to make is that under current immigration controls, it is extremely difficult to deport illegal arrivals who have never contributed to the economy."

But in a statement UKIP's Mayoral candidate, Regine Anderson, did display some insight:

"There may be people asking why I put myself forward for such a position if I couldn't make the time to canvass."