Ukip has been forced to sack one of its newly-elected councillors only six days after sweeping to impressive gains in the local elections following allegations that he posted racist and homophobic remarks on Twitter.
Dave Small was elected to Redditch Borough Council last Thursday, topping the Church Hill ward with an impressive 665 votes, however on Tuesday he was suspended by the party pending an investigation into the alleged comments on social media.
Speakig on Wednesday evening, a Ukip spokesman said: "He has now been expelled for clearly bringing the party into disrepute." It was reported at the weekend that, in February 2013, Small referred to gay people as "perverts" and expressed his displeasure at "poofs and dykes" being allowed to wed.
It was also reported that Small predicted "thousands more scroungers" would soon arrive in the UK from Mali, a direct result of coalition policies, while in November 2012 he tweeted his outrage at not being able to employ the term "Paki".
In June 2012, Small wrote: "I visiting the city of Birmingham recently and felt like a foreigner in the city of my birth, all around me I could hear the sound of jabbering in an alien voice... we also have the Pakistani's and the Somali's. Tell me Mr Cameron Why? the men wear their Pyjamas."