WHAT should we make of Godfrey Bloom? If UK Independence Party leaders are to allow him to speak on their behalf in future, they had better give us a steer.

They have two choices. To spin him as a card, a clown, a maverick; the man known to some as Godfrey's Bloomers. Good for an outrageous quote, but harmlessly off-message.

Or they can promote him as a serious political figure who represents the party line.

After Mr Bloom's comments about the role of women, UKIP opted for the latter course. He was making an important point about European legislation, a spokesman said. So now we know.

Jokes about women's failure to clean behind the fridge provide a colourful enough clash with the politically correct culture of the European Parliament.

But one of his remarks cannot be laughed off. "No self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age," he said.

Here Mr Bloom is promoting active discrimination against women in the workplace. This is illegal, of course. More crucially, it belittles women and the equal rights they have fought so long to achieve.

UKIP leaders have chosen not to condemn Mr Bloom's views, so we must assume they agree with him. This is the party with no women MEPs, after all.

Their stance will come as a surprise to the women voters who thought UKIP was merely anti-EU. They will think carefully about supporting the party again.

So will local voters who are now saddled with an MEP who appears to be the crudest caricature of the blunt talking, backward-thinking Yorkshireman.

Updated: 11:07 Wednesday, July 21, 2004