Unless you’re a close follower of European parliamentary politics, you may not have heard of Godfrey Bloom. But trust us: you’re gonna want to hear what he did this week.
As a member of the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), he spent Friday at their annual conference in London. First, he attended an event aimed at promoting women in politics, where he announced to the attendees, “You’re all sluts.” Then, he went on to accuse a reporter of “reverse racism,” before hitting him over the head with the conference brochure and fleeing the scene.
When you see a news story like this, you can’t not look the guy up on Wikipedia. Was today a one-off? Or is this just Godfrey Bloom in his natural state as an English gentleman, a politician, and a human being?
The answer is, definitely the latter. Godfrey Bloom’s Wikipedia page is a magical cornucopia of disastrous press statements and political gaffes. As his online legacy, it paints a picture of a man with the cast-iron self-confidence of the drunk uncle character in an English historical drama.
Here are some of the highlights:
- “In December 2008, Bloom had to be carried out by an intern after making a speech in the European Parliament while drunk.”
- Despite being a member of the European Parliamentary Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, he “claimed that feminism was a ‘passing fashion’ created by ‘shrill, bored, middle-class women of a certain physical genre.’”
- Also, men who support gender equality are, “‘the slightly effete politically correct chaps who get sand kicked in their face on the beach.”
- He was once ejected from the European Parliament for directing a Nazi salute at a German politician.
- He “made a speech about Britain’s foreign aid in which he referred to countries as “Bongo Bongo Land”.”
- While high on a cocktail of alcohol and prescription painkillers, he interrupted a debate to talk about the Cambridge Women’s Rugby Team uniform shirts.
- He said that women “are better at ‘[finding] the mustard in the pantry’ than driving a car.”
- Earlier this year, he described U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron as “pigeon-chested; the sort of chap I used to beat up.”
What a masterpiece. But despite all this, Bloom, who was first elected to the EU parliament in 2004, was reelected in 2009.
Photo via Euro-Realist-Newsletter/Flickr
