Tory expert on UFOs and the paranormal, Rupert Matthews, finally makes it to the European parliament

Back at the end of 2011, Roger Helmer was still a Conservative MEP. He was minded to retire from the European parliament, but wanted assurances that the first unelected candidate on the party's East Midlands list at the 2009 Euro elections would be appointed in his place.

This brought that candidate, Rupert Matthews, blinking into the light.

It turned out that Matthews was an author and publisher, and that among whose interests were the ghosts and UFOs. Nothing wrong with that - I have labels for ghosts and UFOs on this blog.

But it also transpired that something called the International Metaphysical University was describing Matthews as one of their professors - you can see him in action in the video above - and that he was on record as saying that

"The evidence for UFOs and for the humanoid creatures linked to them is pretty compelling. However, most of the evidence that suggests some sort of global threat is a lot less convincing. It rests on dubious testimony or simply does not mesh with the mass of evidence about UFOs available elsewhere."

Though, judging by the searches that brought Conservative Central Office to this blog, it was Matthews' publication of a book with this charming cover that spooked them.

Whatever the reason, Tory high command declined to give Roger Helmer the assurances he sought. So he stayed in the European parliament but left the party and joined Ukip.

Then the 2014 Euro elections took place and Matthews was again the first unelected candidate on the Conservative list.

At last month's general election one of the Conservative MEPs for the East Midlands, Andrew Lewer, was elected MP for Northampton South and resigned from the European parliament.

Today it was announced that Rupert Matthews will take his place at the European parliament.

His views on Europe make his paranormal investigations sound sensible. So he should fit in with the group very well.

Roger Helmer to quit the European Parliament

Reaction to the news that Roger Helmer is to stand down as one of the East Midlands MEPs is meeting with a mixed reaction across the region.

Reports are reaching us of wailing and gnashing of teeth in Market Bosworth and the more remote regions of Kesteven, while there has been dancing in the streets of Matlock.

As we go to press there are Facebook rumours of outbreaks of public disorder in Cropwell Bishop.

But I thought it would be appropriate if Liberal England paid its own tribute to Mr Helmer. He has certainly given us plenty to write about.

He first spoke of retiring from the European parliament in 2011 when he was still a Conservative. But when the Tories declined to allow him to be succeeded by a self-proclaimed expert on UFOs and alien abductions, he decided to say on and cross the floor to Ukip.

In August 2012 he was obliged to move his office from the Harborough Innovation Centre, a facility for start-up tech companies opened with the help of public money. "I have to admit I'm not a start-up tech company,” he admitted.

That same month he was a few seconds from providing this blog with a scoop.

In August 2013 he told Stephen Nolan of his belief that girls aged under 16 could consent to sex.

And in October 2014 he performed the considerable feat of discovering a Thai massage parlour in Lutterworth.

Since then things have been quieter. But, truly, we shall not see his like again.

A few minutes later. A report on the Guardian site suggests we may not have heard the last of Mr Helmer:

Roger Helmer, a key member of Ukip’s top team, is resigning from the European parliament, ahead of a demand to repay around £100,000 of EU money for alleged misuse of public funds.

"It will be a good thing for Ukip when the MEPs are gone" says its national chairman

Richard Billington, the chairman of Harborough Ukip, didn’t just email his own thoughts to a mailing list that included people outside his party.

He also attached notes of a meeting with Ukip’s national chairman Paul Oakden.

That meeting, according to a tweet from Dan Martin, the Leicester Mercury’s political correspondent, took place in Melton Mowbray on 5 March.

Dan has already tweeted a couple of gems from them and today more were published by Guido Fawkes.

Headed “These notes MUST NOT be put on social media,” they reveal that Oakden hates social media and believes all Ukip candidates should close their accounts: “It just causes more grief.”

And according to Dan Martin, Oakden said:

“It will be a good thing for Ukip when the MEPs are gone. They tend to see themselves as elevated and get in the way of basic Ukip members processes at branch level.”

Dan reminds us that Oakden used to work for Roger Helmer.

And Billington himself offers the observation:

“Many people said quietly to me that it is a good job we didn’t win as Stoke is a serious black hole of degradation.  Let the crazy and quite unpleasant Labour MP have the seat with its much reduced majority.”

This remake of The Sound of Music looks rubbish

Ukip runs into further trouble in Lutterworth

Photo of Lutterworth by Stephen Mckay

Last month the Ukip East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer performed the remarkable feat of discovering a massage parlour in Lutterworth.

Now comes news, thanks to the Leicester Mercury, that the party has been banned from setting up a stall in the town because of a 15th-century royal charter.

The paper quotes Ukip's branch secretary as saying:

"It’s ridiculous. This 15th century royal charter is being waved around as a reason we can’t set up a stall. We’re being told we can’t set one up within 6.2 miles of the town centre because of a centuries old law.

"All we want to is set up a table and in my view this is just a politically motivated move by a Tory who is worried about losing her seat to UKIP. She is trying to suppress UKIP."

Odd. You would think this is just the sort of British tradition the party would want to uphold.

Roger Helmer discovers a massage parlour in Lutterworth

#450112584 / gettyimages.com

Mr Helmer has defended himself to the Leicester Mercury:

“What I do in my own time is of no concern to anyone but myself, especially not The Sun. 

“I've always said people are welcome to ask me anything about my political life and political views, but my private life should be my own and is of no concern to anyone but me."

The most remarkable feature of this affair is that we have learnt of the existence of a massage parlour in Lutterworth.

Anyway there is much, more more about Roger Helmer on this blog

Roger Helmer is the new leader of the Ukip group in the European Parliament

From the Nottingham Post:

East Midlands Euro MP Roger Helmer has replaced party leader Nigel Farage as the head of UKIP MEPs. 

Mr Helmer was voted into the position on Tuesday evening by all 23 UKIP MEPs.

Roger Helmer: I was surprised by the vehemence with which some party spokesmen attacked the concept of voluntary repatriation

A headline in tomorrow's Observer runs:

Ukip shock over byelection candidate who backed voluntary repatriation

Really?

When you take into account Helmer's views on rape, the ability of girls under 16 to consent to sex and much else besides, it would be a shock if he didn't support voluntary repatriation.

Roger Helmer and clubbing baby seals

Having advertised this blog as a source of information on the career of Roger Helmer, I had better pass on a link kindly sent to me by a reader.

In 2006 the Lincolnshire blogger Fair Deal Phil reported that Helmer (still a Conservative MEP in those days) had written to a schoolgirl supporting the clubbing of baby seals.

You may dismiss this as a minor point, but seals can come surprisingly far inland. My mother and late stepfather saw them following their boat on the Witham above Boston. And the same reader tells me that they have been seen on the Trent only a couple of miles below the centre of Newark.

Who knows? Seals could emerge as a major issue in the by-election.

Newark by-election: Wish I could be like David Watts

Twitter is alive with the news that David Watts, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Broxtowe Borough Council, has been chosen as our candidate in the Newark by-election. Michael Crick suggests there were only two applicants.

Well, maybe it was a case of quality not quantity, and I wish David all the best in his efforts to take on Ukip's fruitcake emeritus Roger Helmer.

And his selection does give me an excuse to remind you that The Kinks' David Watts was a real person and came from Rutland.

Take it away boys...

Everything you need to know about Roger Helmer

Ukip has chosen Roger Helmer as its candidate in the Newark by-election.

The Roger Helmer label on this blog will tell you everything you need to know about the man and his politics.

Look out for his belief that there are two kinds of rape, his struggles finding an office in Market Harborough and his insistence that a lecturer on UFOs should succeed him in the European Parliament.

Bill Newton Dunn and Roger Helmer

From an article by John Hess on the BBC News website:

A studio debate for BBC's Sunday Politics between the MEPs of the East Midlands had been lively enough. 

Then it happened - the Liberal Democrat Bill Newton-Dunn lobbed in his accusation against UKIP's Roger Helmer. 

He accused the veteran former Conservative, now UKIP MEP, of "not bothering to turn up to vote" at the European Parliament. 

Mr Helmer was outraged and demanded an immediate on-air apology from Mr Newton-Dunn.

I fear Bill may have overstepped  the mark here. I have photographic evidence that Roger Helmer does turn up to the European Parliament...

Roger Helmer's views on women are worse than Godfrey Bloom's

In the aftermath of Godfrey Bloom's implosion yesterday, UKIP sent Roger Helmer and his comedy moustache on to Channel 4 News and Newsnight to calm things down.

When Roger Helmer becomes your voice of reason you know you are in trouble.

And it is worth pointing out that Roger Helmer has said far worse things about women than Bloom ever has.

Roger Helmer, underage girls and consent

listen to ‘Audio of UKIP MEP talking on Nolan Show about consent to underage sex - "Legally, she cannot consent, but in real terms, she can." ’ on Audioboo

Thanks to Scott Collins on Twitter for posting a link to a Hope Not Hate item about Roger Helmer (a UKIP MEP for the East Midlands) and his interview about underage sex and consent on with Stephen Nolan.

The page that hosts the interview gives a choice quote:

"Suppose a 15-year-old girl is at a club with a pop star, and he says 'how about it, dear'? and she says 'yes please, I was hoping you'd ask'. In most people's book, that constitutes consent. Legally, she cannot consent, but in real terms, she can."

but you really have to listen to the whole thing.

This is not the first time that Helmer has given us the benefit of his views on sexual crime. Back in 2011, when he was still a Conservative MEP, he announced that there are two kinds of rape:

While in the first case, the blame is squarely on the perpetrator and does not attach to the victim, in the second case the victim surely shares a part of the responsibility, if only for establishing reasonable expectations in her boyfriend’s mind.

The problem, I suspect, is that Helmer is not very bright and inordinately fond of the sound of his own voice. The result is that he has convinced himself that his bizarre and distasteful views are what most voters believe too.

You would think it is impossible to be thrown out of UKIP for your views - when I challenged Nigel Farage on Twitter over Helmer's views on rape, he replied that members were free to believe what they wanted - but Helmer seems determined to test that belief to destruction.

Meanwhile, my post "Don't blame the decade for sexual abuse" from last year turns out to provide a good reply to Helmer.

Expert on aliens is no. 3 on Tory East Midlands Euro list

Remember Rupert Matthews? He's the Tory who teaches courses for the International Metaphysical University and believes "the evidence for UFOs and for the humanoid creatures linked to them is pretty compelling".

And its not just that he makes David Tredinnick look like a Nobel laureate: Matthews' eccentricity has a less appealing side.

Well, the news is that he will be no. 3 on the Conservative Party's list for the East Midlands at the next European elections.

You may also remember that Roger Helmer wanted to stand down as one of the region's MEPs halfway through this parliament, but said he would do so only if Conservative HQ would guarantee that Matthews (the highest placed unsuccessful Tory on the East Midlands list last time round) would replace him.

No such guarantee was forthcoming. Not only did Helmer fail to resign from the European parliament, he joined UKIP.

This incident shows what is wrong with the closed-list system for European elections that the last Labour government introduced. Parties and MEPs come to regard seats as their personal property.

The practice of stepping down halfway through a parliament to allow your successor time to bed in (of which the Liberal Democrats have been as fond as anyone) should be discouraged in particular.

As no. 3 on the Tory list, Rupert Matthews probably will not make it to the European parliament next time. He should concentrate on the inter-galactic elections of 2017.

East Midland MEPs at Work: 1. Roger Helmer

The first in an occasional series.

Thanks to a reader and La Treizième Étoile.

Roger Helmer finds another new home

Regular readers will recall that when Roger Helmer left the Conservatives and joined UKIP he had to leave the Tory MEPs' office in Market Harborough.

He then set himself up at the new Harborough Innovation Centre, which was built with public money to  nurture new businesses.

Once word got around he was asked to leave it on the grounds that he is not a new businesses.

Strolling through Market Harborough this afternoon I noted that he is now to be found above a coffee shop in Manor Court.

Why Roger Helmer had to leave the Harborough Innovation Centre

Amid a heap of bluster, the UKIP Roger Helmer MEP admits in the Leicester Mercury that he has indeed been obliged to move his office out of the Harborough Innovation Centre because he had no right to be there in the first place:

"I have to admit I'm not a start-up tech company and a senior person from Oxford Innovations, which manages the centre, came to see me, apologised, but said I would have to leave."

Helmer's attempt to blame my old colleague Simon Galton neglects the fact that Harborough District Council is run by the Conservatives.

The Mercury found that, characteristically:

Coun Michael Rook, the Tory leader of the council, was unavailable for comment.

Still, well done to him for enforcing the rules.

Roger Helmer leaves the Harborough Innovation Centre

When East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer left the Conservatives and joined UKIP he obviously needed a new office in the constituency. So he set himself up at the new Harborough Innovation Centre, which was built with public money.

This caused controversy at the time, with some asking how he fitted centre's role of being "a hub for businesses to launch, innovate and grow".

Now a reader has alerted me to a report in the Leicester Mercury revealing that Helmer is one of four tenants who have recently left the centre. But quite why he has left, the paper does not say.

Runners and riders in the Corby by-election

The Northamptonshire Telegraph keeps us up to date as the ballot paper for the forthcoming Corby by-election takes shape.

Labour has chosen Andy Sawford, son of the former MP for neighbouring Kettering Phil Sawford. And the Liberal Democrats have chosen Jill Hope, who has previously fought Harborough and Milton Keynes North.

UKIP has chosen Margot Parker and the paper reports that George Galloway has said he is keen for Respect to field a candidate too.

The Conservatives are meeting to choose and candidate between the lines and, reading between the lines, they may not be an entirely happy ship. Two prominent local Tories - David Sims and Peter Bedford - who originally let it be known they were interested in standing have failed to make the shortlist.

As to the yesterday's silly season story, as put about by Tory bloggers who wanted more hits:

Former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss had been rumoured to be one of those being considered for the shortlist, but his name was ruled out yesterday after it was revealed he had missed the deadline for consideration.

And quite why Strauss would want to rush to stand in a contest he would almost certainly lose was never explained.

Finally, back to UKIP... I think I have discovered the shameful secret that Roger Helmer was so anxious to hide this morning.

The Telegraph says the party has opened campaign headquarters "in the former Baguettaway shop in Everest Lane".

Nasty foreign things, baguettes.