UK Independence Party MEP Roger Helmer is to fight the parliamentary byelection in Newark, the party has announced.

Helmer has previously attracted controversy with a range of views, most recently with comments that people should be able to prefer hetrosexuality to homosexuality like they may prefer Earl Grey tea.



The selection comes after Ukip leader Nigel Farage decided not to throw his hat into the ring for the battle in the Nottinghamshire seat to replace independent MP Patrick Mercer, who quit parliament last month days before the publication of a scathing standards report.

Helmer, 70, is a businessman who was elected to the European Parliament in 1999 as a Conservative Party MEP and re-elected in 2004 and 2009 before defecting to Ukip in March 2012.



He has previously sparked controversy by questioning the existence of "homophobia", suggesting that some people find same-sex relationships "distasteful if not viscerally repugnant" and arguing that there are "different degrees of culpability" in rape cases.

Last year, Farage admitted that Helmer had gone "too far" by drawing a link between gay marriage and incest in a blog in which he wrote: "If two men have a right to marry, how can we deny the same right to two siblings? Are we to authorise incest?"



Challenged over his views of homosexuality last month, Helmer told the Sun: "Different people have different tastes. You may tell me you don't like Earl Grey tea. That may be a minority view but you are entitled not to like it if you don't like it."



But he rejected any suggestion that he was endorsing homophobia, saying: "I simply made the point that people were entitled to their personal preferences. It is morally acceptable to prefer heterosexuality over homosexuality, or vice versa. Most of us prefer one or the other."

He said he had publicly declared in the past "that prejudice, hostility and violence against homosexuals are wrong and totally unacceptable".

As a Tory MEP in 2011, Mr Helmer was rebuked by his own party for sending out a tweet during a spate of riots suggesting that the Army should "shoot looters and arsonists on sight".

Helmer, who has represented the East Midlands in the European Parliament for 15 years, was "overwhelmingly" endorsed by the Newark constituency association at a hustings meeting on Monday before being backed by Ukip's National Executive Committee, said a party spokesman.

Helmer said: “I am both proud and humbled to have been selected by the constituency association in Newark to represent the UKIP cause in this historic town in what could well prove to be an historic by-election.



"It would be a huge honour to be elected to serve as Newark’s MP and I will be giving my all over the next few weeks to achieve that outcome.”



Farage said: “I had a feeling from pretty early on that Roger would emerge as the UKIP candidate in this contest. It did not surprise me in the slightest that he performed so well at the hustings or that NEC members were keen to endorse him.



“He is a massively experienced and respected figure on the national political stage and on the local political stage as well. I know that the UKIP membership will rally to the cause of making Roger our first directly elected MP.”