That has to hurt

The latest furore swirling around Roger Helmer has thrown up an interesting aspect.

He is being knifed by his East Midlands Conservative MEP colleague Emma McClarkin.

Which must hurt, as Ms McClarkin's entire political career is predicated on her being his erstwhile assistant and her excellent relations with her predecessor in the East Midlands Tory MEP berth Chris Heaton-Harris.

Both of those gentlemen did all they could to help get the nomination for the second slot on the Tory East Midland's list.

"I want to make it absolutely clear that I wish to distance myself from Mr Helmer's comments. This is clearly not the view of the Conservative Party or the UK delegation in the European Parliament, nor do they reflect the intent of Ken Clarke's comments".

Roger had been his normal forthright self, maybe ill-advised,

Another asked whether he believes that an offender may act against their victim's will simply because the victim decides to share a bed with them.

Mr Helmer replied: "It is naive for a woman to undress and get into a man's bed and not expect him to draw the obvious conclusion."

Hard to argue the rationality of his point, but impossible to defend.