Editing Godfrey Bloom (section)

{{short description|British politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = 
| name             = Godfrey Bloom
| image            = Godfrey Bloom (cropped 3x4).jpg
| honorific-suffix = [[Territorial Decoration|TD]]
| caption          = Bloom in 2009
|office            = [[UKIP]] [[HM Treasury|Economics Spokesman]]
|leader            = [[Nigel Farage]]
| term_start       = 22 May 2013
|term_end          = 22 February 2014
|predecessor       = Position established
|successor         = [[Steven Woolfe]]
| constituency_MP2 = [[Yorkshire and the Humber (European Parliament constituency)|Yorkshire and the Humber]]
| parliament2      = European
| majority2        = 
| predecessor2     = [[Robert Goodwill]]
| successor2       = [[Amjad Bashir]]
| term_start2      = 1 May 2004
| term_end2        = 2 July 2014
| birth_date       = {{Birth date and age|1949|11|22|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Lewisham]], [[London]], England
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| nationality      = British
| spouse           = {{marriage|Katryna Skowronek|1986}}
| party            = [[UK Independence Party]] (1998–2014)<br /> Independent (2013–14)<ref name="BBC2409">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24222992 "Godfrey Bloom quits as UKIP MEP after 'sluts' joke row"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181220111632/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24222992 |date=20 December 2018 }}, BBC News, 24 September 2013</ref><ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/09/24/godfrey-bloom-ukip_n_3980401.html "Godfrey Bloom To Quit As Ukip MEP After 'Sluts' Row"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119045955/https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/09/24/godfrey-bloom-ukip_n_3980401.html |date=19 November 2018 }}, ''The Huffington Post'', 24 September 2013</ref><ref>{{cite tweet |user=GoddersBloom |author-link=Godfrey Bloom |number=1051054839520735232 |title=The Conservative Party have relented. My membership card arrived today. I suspect the personal intervention of David Davis. Membership number 528905543 Haltemprice & Howden. More I suspect on this soon. |date=13 October 2018 |access-date=13 October 2018}}</ref>
| relations        = 
| children         = 
| residence        = [[Wressle]], [[East Riding of Yorkshire]]
| alma_mater       = 
| occupation       = 
| profession       = [[Financial economics|Financial Economist]]
| religion         = 
| signature        = 
| footnotes        = 
| module           = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes
| allegiance       = {{flagu|United Kingdom}}
| branch           = {{army|UK}}
| servicenumber    = 501912
| serviceyears     = 1977–1996
| rank             = [[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]]
| unit             = [[Royal Corps of Transport]]
}}
}}
'''Godfrey William Bloom''' [[Territorial Decoration|TD]] (born 22 November 1949) is an English author, economist and former politician who served as a [[Member of the European Parliament]] (MEP) for [[Yorkshire and the Humber (European Parliament constituency)|Yorkshire and the Humber]] from 2004 to 2014.  He was elected for the [[UK Independence Party]] in the [[European elections]] of [[2004 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2004]] and [[2009 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2009]], representing UKIP until September 2013, when UKIP withdrew the party whip from him. He then sat as an [[Independent (politician)|Independent]] until the end of his term of office in May 2014. Bloom resigned his UKIP party membership on 13 October 2014.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/update/2014-10-13/godfrey-bloom-leaves-ukip/ | title = Godfrey Bloom Leaves UKIP | work = ITV News | date = 13 October 2014 | access-date = 13 October 2014 | archive-date = 14 October 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141014044756/http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/update/2014-10-13/godfrey-bloom-leaves-ukip/ | url-status = live }}</ref>

During his tenure, he received attention for making remarks considered objectionable by his party leader, for his opinions concerning climate change and for making other controversial comments. On 20 September 2013, UKIP withdrew the [[party whip]] from Bloom after he hit journalist [[Michael Crick]] in the street with a conference brochure,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/10324527/Selfish-Godfrey-Blooms-sluts-slur-has-killed-Ukip-conference-says-Nigel-Farage.html |title=Selfish Godfrey Bloom's 'sluts' slur has killed Ukip conference, says Nigel Farage |work=The Telegraph |date=20 September 2013 |access-date=28 February 2014 |location=London |archive-date=8 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408054404/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/10324527/Selfish-Godfrey-Blooms-sluts-slur-has-killed-Ukip-conference-says-Nigel-Farage.html |url-status=live }}</ref> threatened a second reporter, and at the party's conference jokingly referred to his female audience as [[slut]]s.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://news.sky.com/story/1144453/godfrey-bloom-ukip-mep-calls-women-sluts |title= Godfrey Bloom: UKIP MEP Calls Women 'Sluts' |work= Sky News |date= 20 September 2013 |access-date= 28 February 2014 |archive-date= 27 October 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131027163351/http://news.sky.com/story/1144453/godfrey-bloom-ukip-mep-calls-women-sluts |url-status= live }}</ref> Bloom resigned his party whip from UKIP on 24 September 2013 and thereafter sat as an Independent MEP until the end of his term in office on 2 July 2014.<ref name="BBC2409"/> [[Nigel Farage]], the UKIP party leader, said "the trouble with Godfrey is that, he is not a racist, he's not an extremist or any of those things and he's not even anti-women, but he has a sort-of-rather old-fashioned [[Army Reserve (United Kingdom)|Territorial Army]] sense of humour which does not translate very well in modern Britain".<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 September 2013 |url=https://www.channel4.com/news/ukips-godfrey-bloom-biffs-michael-crick |title=Thwack! MEP's blunders derail Ukip party conference |website=Channel 4 News |access-date=23 September 2019 |archive-date=23 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923154520/https://www.channel4.com/news/ukips-godfrey-bloom-biffs-michael-crick |url-status=live }}</ref>

Bloom was removed as Honorary President of the Ludwig von Mises Centre in December 2017, the organisation citing his comments on [[Twitter]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Announcement|url=https://misesuk.org/2017/12/18/announcement/|website=Mises UK|access-date=18 December 2017|archive-date=18 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171218205321/https://misesuk.org/2017/12/18/announcement/|url-status=live}}</ref>