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Days after Carl Benjamin was made a UKIP candidate for European Parliament for the South West, the party's Gloucestershire website has been suspended.

The owner of the UKIP Gloucestershire website has taken it down, citing the nomination of Carl Benjamin for their reason.

Mr Benjamin – who also goes by the name Sargon of Akkad – won the nomination to be a candidate for UKIP in the forthcoming elections sparking a mass exodus of senior UKIP figures.

Now the registered owner of the UKIP Gloucestershire website has taken it down temporarily.

In a statement on the website it said: “The registered owner of this domain will not under any circumstances countenance any support for Carl Benjamin aka Sargon of Akkad for the position of Member of [European] Parliament for the South West Region.”

The website goes on to quote Richard Ford, member for the party's National Executive Committee.

He said: "In these circumstances therefore I and many of my senior colleagues as well as rank and file members of UKIP here in Gloucestershire are left with little alternative but to resign from UKIP with immediate effect .

“In addition to Mrs Simmonds and Mr Ford, UKIP's Gloucestershire County Chairman and Stroud Chairman Stuart Love, Cotswolds Chairman and 2015 and 2017 Parliamentary Candidate Chris Harlow and Forest of Dean Chairman Averil Summers will also be tendering their resignations, as will many other County branch officials.

“These resignations will mean that all six UKIP Gloucestershire Branch Chairmen, and all three currently adopted Prospective Parliamentary candidates, as well as the County Chairman and South West Regional Chairman have now resigned.”

(Image: Getty Images)

Mr Ford said the website change was not done by him and he didn’t ask anyone to do it.

Mr Benjamin, 39, from Swindon, has admitted to Gloucestershire Live he sent a “hurtful” tweet saying he “wouldn’t even rape” Labour MP Jess Phillips .

In the tweet he included the hashtag “#FeminismIsCancer”.

He admitted he was an "arsehole" but said he had to make the tweet to make a point about freedom of speech.

His comment about Labour MP Jess Phillips was defended as 'satire' by UKIP leader Gerard Batten.

On Monday Mr Benjamin visited Gloucester and said the other UKIP members were “jealous” of his position.