An outgoing Brexit Party MEP was left red-faced after his website was taken over by pornographers and plastered with explicit images.

A link on Bill Etheridge's official European Parliament profile now leads to a web service which asks its visitors whether they are "looking for sex in Brussels?".

Mr Etheridge was elected as a Ukip MEP in 2014 but quit this year to join the Brexit Party, following former leader Nigel Farage. He leaves office this week, handing over to a new crop of MEPs elected in May.

Visitors to www.billetheridge.co.uk are now asked to confirm whether they are over 18. If they say yes, they are told: "Many of these women are desperate single moms and cheating wives looking for some fun. They could be your neighbours or someone you know."

Coincidentally, the politician split from his wife in 2015 after she saw him on television at an election count with a female colleague, and accused him of having an affair. Mr Etheridge later confirmed he was indeed in a relationship with the colleague, a Ukip party worker.

The most likely explanation for the takeover of Mr Etheridge's website is that he has allowed the lease on his web address to expire at the same time as his political career.

After he failed to renew the lease, the domain name would have then been overtaken by "squatters" who plastered it in adverts – in this case explicit ones.

A former Tory, Mr Etheridge was kicked out of the Conservative party in 2011 after he and this then wife posed with Golliwog dolls to make a point about "political correctness".

The MEP's website has been taken over

Brexit Party MEPs made news on Tuesday after they turned their backs during the opening ceremony of the European Parliament as the EU's anthem was played.