Godfrey Bloom will sit as an independent MEP until next year's European election but has not quit Ukip. Mr Bloom was stripped of the party whip after offensive remarks he made about women at a party event and an altercation with a TV journalist.
A UK Independence party MEP has defended branding women "sluts" during a party event designed to increase the number of women in politics.
Godfrey Bloom said female Ukip members joked that they did not clean behind the fridge and he responded by saying "this place is full of sluts."
Questioned about using the term, Mr Bloom said: "I made a joke and said 'oh well you're all sluts' and everybody laughed including all the women."
But his press officer claimed there was confusion between the terms "sluts" and "slags".
The UK Independence Party has removed the whip from MEP Godfrey Bloom after he called women "sluts" a fringe event.
The Ukip MEP Godfrey Bloom has a history of gaffes and controversies. Here are eight of them.