UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom isn't one to keep his thoughts to himself, as Angus Young finds out over a seafood lunch ...
HE'S running late and Godfrey Bloom is full of apologies.
"I've been helping a charming French family who were trying to work out how to pay for their ticket in a car park," he says.
"I'm afraid my French is not that good these days – didn't know the right phrase for registration plate.
"Anyway, managed to help them all the same. Lovely people."
So much for any preconceptions about the UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber.
Has he suddenly abandoned his partly self-styled image of being the region's answer to John Bull, proudly wearing his Union Jack waistcoat and denouncing our European cousins at every opportunity?
Well, not quite.
In our interview over lunch, he delivers the odd cheeky reference to frogs and he's not talking about anything on the menu.
However, he's undeniably enjoyable company.
His views on speed cameras ("ghastly money-making machines"), the European Parliament "a staggering waste of money"), climate change ("it's a giant scam") and politicians "most of them have no understanding of the real world") are shared over a halibut steak.
Most are familiar to anyone who has followed his career since becoming an MEP nearly a decade ago.
But I'm here to receive a copy of his latest project – The Informed Voter's Almanac, a 46-page "aide memoire" for journalists and anyone else who might be interested in reading his thoughts on what he describes as the "great topics of the day".
"None of the policies of the mainstream political parties are worth anything because they have been thought up on the hoof," he says
"What I have written here is all evidence-based. All the facts here are in the public domain, it's just that politicians and the media deliberately choose to ignore them or misrepresent them."
He's not afraid to go against the grain, claiming most of his long-standing concerns over issues as diverse as the structure of the economy, immigration and the BBC have all been borne out in recent years.
"My argument over immigration has always been an economic one.
"We're a small island with a very big population.
"We're not geared to cope with the sort of large influx of people we've seen in recent years. It's not rocket science to work that out."
Looking out over the Humber from our restaurant table, we turn to the subject of wind farms.
Unlike many, Godfrey is not enthusiastic about the proposed Siemens offshore wind turbine factory earmarked for Hull.
"I spoke about this at the Chamber of Commerce recently and got a few people shaking their heads," he laughs.
"I told them I'm not significantly impressed by Siemens coming here.
"The other week, Cameron said the Government would guarantee their profits for the next 20 years if they came here.
"So my question is who is going to benefit from that? Will it be Siemens' shareholders or will it be the poor people of Hull who will be paying higher energy bills to foot the bill for the subsidies we are handing out?
"I asked that question at the Chamber and then asked them another – would local businesses rather have 5 per cent VAT or standstill business rates for 20 years instead? That made a few of them think.
"They say it will create 700 jobs but half of them will not be filled by people from round here. Siemens will want their own people on something like this.
"As for saying it will lead to 10,000 new jobs – well, that's a load of nonsense."
As well as the economics, he's not convinced the technology behind offshore wind turbines stacks up either.
"We plonked lighthouses on granite rocks 150 years ago and they are all still standing proud.
"It's a very different kettle of fish plonking a wind turbine in a sandbank under the North Sea. "
He's equally dismissive of onshore wind farms.
"No one in their right minds could say they don't have an impact in somewhere like the Yorkshire Wolds.
"The only people to benefit from onshore wind turbines are the energy companies and the landowners.
"Some landowners are already getting paid £100,000 in farming subsidies before even getting out of bed.
"Now they're getting another £100,000 or so for having a wind turbine on their land. That can't be right."
He's slowly gearing up for next year's European elections when he predicts UKIP will win two regional seats.
His forecast is partly based on the party's strong showing in recent UK parliamentary by-elections and his own fourth place finish in last November's Humberside police and crime commissioner election.
"I stood simply to stop Prescott winning so it was mission accomplished," he says with a grin.
"Beforehand, I had people writing to me pleading me to do what I could to stop him winning the election.
"We did well in Hull, Grimsby and Scunthorpe, which significantly dented his chances because they were meant to be Labour strongholds.
"What no one really expected was how well Paul Davison did.
"He ran a really good campaign and connected with the voters which was a lesson to all the politicians because he was one of them, even though he was actually a former police officer.
"As it was, if he had not stood, I might have ended up winning, which was probably the last thing I wanted because it is a hell of a job."
Instead, his sights are on next year's Euro elections but he admits the next General Election is probably beyond him.
"I'm not getting any younger," he says with a sigh as he tucks into his white chocolate mousse dessert.
"Perhaps that's for somebody else."
For a moment, he looks wistfully out of the window across the yawning estuary before us.
"If anyone asks what I'd rather be doing than being an MEP, do you know what I tell them?" he asks.
"Propping up the bar at Pocklington rugby club on a Saturday afternoon. That's my idea of heaven."
