OUTSPOKEN former UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom has resigned from the party.
Mr Bloom, who quit as a UKIP representative in the European Parliament last year after joking that female party activists were "sluts", said he was leaving the party with a "heavy heart".
The politician, known for his colourful language, said he had "had enough" with UKIP, which had "gone astray" after the party hierarchy prevented him from speaking in a number of public forums.
He told LBC Radio: "I was a founder member of UKIP.
"I joined in the mid-1990s. I'm a very significant donor - hundreds of thousands of pounds I've donated over the years to UKIP - and then I find that instead of being the libertarian party or the party of common sense, I've been banned from speaking."
Asked why the party would move to silence him, he said: "I really don't know, I've never been on any television or radio programme without endorsing UKIP, although I have had some criticisms in the past over the leadership and the style of leadership that we have.
"It's a very sad day for me."
Mr Bloom, who was once a close friend of leader Nigel Farage with the two men sharing a flat in Brussels, revealed that they had "lost contact completely".
He said: "UKIP were supposed to be something new, but now we seem to be drifting towards the political correct mainstream just like everybody else and that's not the reason people voted UKIP."
Mr Bloom credited himself with raising the party's profile across his Yorkshire & Humber constituency, which he continues to represent as an independent MEP.
"Yorkshire now is the most successful region for UKIP in the entire country so I must be getting something right," he said.
Mr Bloom dismissed the idea of joining another party.
"Good Lord, no - I've had enough of party politics," he said.
"I don't really like it; I've never really liked it. I don't think party politics is for somebody who tells it like it is and tells the truth."
He added that the real person pulling the strings was Steve Crowther, the "unelected" party Chairman, whom he described as a "man of mystery".
Last week, Douglas Carswell made history by becoming UKIP's first-ever elected MP after defecting from the Conservatives and winning last week's Clacton by-election by 12,404 votes.
In a warning to UKIP's new recruit, Mr Bloom said: "Watch your back. There are dead bodies of UKIP all over the place with a knife quivering in their back.
"Douglas, make sure it's not yours."
