THE VICTIM: SMOOTHIE FROM ROUGH SIDE OF MANCHESTER

IN a party frequently dogged by claims of racism, Steven Woolfe is an electoral godsend for Ukip.

He is seeking to become the first mixedrace leader of a major British political party. The MEP, who was 49 yesterday, has black American, Jewish and Irish grandparents, and was bullied as a child because of the way he looked.

‘My hair was different, my colour was different, I was often beaten, called names and that went on through my teenage years,’ he has said.

His younger half-brother Nathan Woolfe, 28, took a different path – he is a footballer who has played for Bolton Wanderers, Stockport County and Wrexham.

One of four children, Mr Woolfe was brought up on the infamous Moss Side estate in Manchester by strict Roman Catholic parents who were diehard Labour voters.

One of the brightest in his primary school – where Oasis singer Liam Gallagher was a pupil – he won a scholarship to St Bede’s RC Independent College before gaining a degree in law at Aberystwyth University.

Woolfe’s first run for public office came in 2012 in the election to find a police and crime commissioner for Greater Manchester. He came last with only 9% cent of the vote. In 2014, he was elected MEP for North West England but came a poor third in Stockport at the general election.

He was encouraged to stand for the leadership by Nigel Farage as well as Arron Banks, one of Ukip’s biggest donors, and he said at the launch of his campaign in the summer: ‘I am living proof of the so-called “British dream” – the chance to succeed in all aspects of your life, no matter your postcode, your gender or the colour of your skin. I am standing to be the first mixedrace leader of a major political party in Britain.’ But his campaign foundered when he submitted his nomination papers 1 minutes after the deadline had expired because of a technical hitch with his email.

The party’s National Executive Committee – dominated by the party’s only MP Douglas Carswell and Neil Hamilton, the former Tory MP who is now Ukip leader in Wales – refused his request to stand even though he was the runaway favourite. They both hate Farage and Banks who are Woolfe’s mentors.

But then, as yesterday’s events – culminating in the MEP’s admission to hospital – show, Ukip is a party torn apart by hatred.