A new Tory MEP is more likely to be found studying paranormal activity than parliamentary activity and claimed the EU could invade to stop Brexit.

Rupert Matthews – described by one Tory MP as “mad as a box of snakes” – was automatically made an MEP for the East Midlands this week after the sitting Tory won a seat at Westminster.

It was second time lucky for Mattews, who had been due to take the place of a retiring MEP in 2012, but was blocked by Tory high command because of his unusual views.

So what were they worried about?

Well, he has written over 30 books on the extraterrestrial, including: Alien Encounters : True-Life Stories of Aliens, UFOs and Other Extra-Terrestrial Phenomena and UFOs: A History of Alien Activity from Sightings to Abductions to Global Threat.

He has taught online courses about the paranormal for the International Metaphysical University, whose website described him as a “professor.”

In this video, Mathews explains: “I’ve been investigating the paranormal for the past 20 years now, I’ve researched ghosts, poltergeist, UFOs and various other phenomenon.”

If all of that sounds a bit bonkers but basically harmless, his theories about European Union are more worrying.

Matthews published a pamphlet called ‘Can Britain leave the EU? A Warning from History’ which claimed: “We might yet see the panzers in Parliament Square.”

The MEP set out his theory that the Lisbon Treaty gives the European Commission the power to invade Britain in this video recorded at Tory party conference in 2011.

He says: “They could go to the German government and say please send us a Panzer division, and if the German government said yes, then the European Commission could send that Panzer division to London and there is nothing the British government could do about it.”

Worryingly, Mathews has been made a member of the European Parliament’s committee for education.

In this case Scrapbook agrees with Michael Gove about “so-called experts”…