Ukip MEP Godfrey Bloom has been suspended from the party after he jokingly called a roomful of women "sluts".
On Friday Bloom attended an event at the Ukip conference in Westminster that was designed to promote the advancement of women in politics.
After two senior female Ukip members joked that they did not clean behind the fridge, as Bloom said it was where women belonged, he joyfully shouted: "This place is full of sluts."
Confronted by journalists outside the event, Bloom defended his comment as "a joke", and insisted all the women at the event had taken it in good humour.
"I made a joke and said 'oh well you're all sluts' and everybody laughed and all the women laughed," he said. "Was there a single women in there who didn't laugh at the joke?"
Amid a media storm over Bloom's comments, Farage told the BBC News that his MEP's comments were "beyond the pale".
"My own view is Godfrey repeated behaviour has been selfish," he said. "It's beginning to overshadow all the good things we are saying here today."
The party announced late on Friday afternoon that it would withdraw the whip from Bloom pending a full disciplinary hearing.
During the confrontation with reporters, Bloom also made a prediction about the future leadership of the party, currently led by Nigel Farage. "I think in five years the new leader of Ukip will be a woman," he said. Asked if that meant Farage was planning to step down, he added: "You think Nigel Farage is going to go on forever do you?"
After calling Sky News' Darren Mccaffrey a "sad little man", Bloom took off down the street pursued by reporters. He then hit Channel 4's Michael Crick over the head with a Ukip conference book and called him a "racist", before jumping into a taxi to make his escape.
Crick had asked Bloom about the front cover of the book which carries the slogan "changing the face of politics" but features no face that is not white.
Bloom took offence to the question. "What a racist comment. How dare you, thats an appalling thing to say, you're picking people out for the colour of their skin? You disgust me."
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