UKIP’s Woolfe "reached out hand of friendship" to colleague Hookem after hospitalisation
Record ID:
82926
UKIP’s Woolfe "reached out hand of friendship" to colleague Hookem after hospitalisation
- Title: UKIP’s Woolfe "reached out hand of friendship" to colleague Hookem after hospitalisation
- Date: 7th October 2016
- Summary: STRASBOURG, FRANCE (OCTOBER 7, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF HAUTEPIERRE HOSPITAL WHERE UNITED KINGDOM INDEPENDENCE PARTY (UKIP) MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT (MEP), STEVEN WOOLFE, IS RECEIVING TREATMENT JOURNALIST SPEAKING TO CAMERA HOLDING NEWSPAPER WITH FRONTPAGE ON WOOLFE UKIP MEP, NATHAN GILL, ARRIVING WITH DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT'S EUROPE OF FREEDOM AND DIRECT DEMOCRACY GROUP, OF WHICH UKIP IS A MEMBER, HERMANN KELLY, TO SPEAK TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKIP MEP, NATHAN GILL, SAYING: "Steven has this morning reached out the hand of friendship to (UKIP MEP) Mr. Hookem, to Mike, and has realised that things did go too far in the MEP meeting. So he has made moves forward for keeping us all as a band of friends." GILL ADDRESSING JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKIP MEP, NATHAN GILL, SAYING: "He's been observed over the night, they have been waking him up just as a precaution to keep an eye on him. He was very tired, and was quite groggy but now he is definitely in a better state. The hospital has moved him to the neurological department as a precaution and they have asked to keep him in for a further 48 hours so that they can observe him, but I must stress that this is precautionary." SIGN FOR HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKIP MEP, NATHAN GILL, SAYING: "And also I think it's grossly inappropriate for people to be commenting about things that have happened when we actually didn't know what was going to be happening to Mr. Woolfe health-wise. It was, at one stage, touch and go." GILL AND KELLY LEAVING
- Embargoed: 22nd October 2016 11:52
- Keywords: politics Steven Woolfe Nigel Farage Mike Hookem European Parliament
- Location: STRASBOURG, FRANCE
- City: STRASBOURG, FRANCE
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001530A6O7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) member Steven Woolfe has "reached out the hand of friendship" to colleague Mike Hookem after an altercation which left Woolfe in hospital, fellow party member Nathan Gill said on Friday (October 7).
Woolfe, a candidate to be the new leader of Britain's anti-EU UKIP, was recovering in hospital after suffering seizures on Thursday following an "altercation" with a colleague at a meeting about the party's future.
The 49-year-old told British newspaper the Daily Mail that UKIP defence spokesman Mike Hookem "landed a blow" as they stepped out of a heated meeting with fellow MEPs. An aide to Hookem, 62, a former army commando, denied that, telling British media via an aide, that he did not touch Woolfe and that it was a purely "verbal altercation".
"Steven has this morning reached out the hand of friendship to Mr. Hookem, to Mike, and has realised that things did go too far in the MEP meeting. So he has made moves forward for keeping us all as a band of friends," Gill told reporters after visiting Woolfe at the Hautepierre hospital in Strasbourg.
The European Parliament launched a disciplinary inquiry on Friday into the scuffle which left Woolfe with a head injury.
"He's been observed over the night, they have been waking him up just as a precaution to keep an eye on him. He was very tired, and was quite groggy but now he is definitely in a better state. The hospital has moved him to the neurological department as a precaution and they have asked to keep him in for a further 48 hours so that they can observe him, but I must stress that this is precautionary," Gill said.
UKIP's Welsh leader Neil Hamilton, who was not at the meeting but said he had been given an account of what had happened by an eyewitness, told BBC TV that Woolfe had picked a fight and then been knocked over and hit his head on a window.
Gill called speculations about Thursday's incident "grossly inappropriate" and said that it was at one stage "touch and go" for Woolfe.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who stepped in when his elected successor stepped down on Wednesday amid furious faction-fighting in the party since the referendum, has launched an internal inquiry into the incident and has refused to say who was responsible.
A breach of the European Parliament's rules can be penalised by a reprimand, loss of voting rights or parliamentary office and a fine worth two to 10 days of subsistence allowance, or from 612 ($682) to 3,060 euros. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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