Lawmaker from fractious UKIP hospitalized after party clash
LONDON — Feuding in Britain’s fractious, right-wing U.K. Independence Party erupted into violence Thursday that left a member of the European Parliament hospitalized with a head injury after an “altercation” with a colleague.
Steven Woolfe — the front-runner to be UKIP’s next leader — suffered seizures and lost consciousness after clashing with another lawmaker Thursday morning during a meeting of party lawmakers at the legislative building in Strasbourg, France.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage said Woolfe was initially in a serious condition and “things were pretty bad.” But he said Thursday afternoon that Woolfe was “in a much better place than he was a few hours ago.”
Farage said he was launching an inquiry into the violence, which he said “shouldn’t have happened.” He declined to identify the other party member involved in what he termed “an altercation.”