UKIP’s Mike Hookem says hospitalised colleague Steven Woolfe ‘started it’ as he plays down altercation as ‘handbags at dawn’

THE Ukip MEP at the centre of a brawl which left a colleague  unconscious yesterday claimed it was just “handbags at dawn”.

Mike Hookem insisted he did not throw a punch in  the slanging match with Steven Woolfe.

Mr Hookem, Ukip’s defence spokesman, joked: “It was   girl on girl. I’m a 63-year-old grandfather.

“I don’t go rolling about the floor with people at my time of life. The truth is I never hit him. Steven was the one who stood up and said, ‘Let’s take this out the room mano a mano’ — some phrase he’s got from some cowboy or western film.

“We had a tussle like two tarts dancing round a handbag. It lasted seconds.

“If it was the WWE they’d throw us out. He then fell over his own feet through the door into the meeting room. I was nowhere near him.”

The pair clashed  in the European Parliament’s HQ in Strasbourg, France.

Mr Hookem said the row broke out over Mr Woolfe’s  Ukip leadership bid being thrown out because he sent in his papers late.

Insiders claimed Mr Woolfe, 49, who is still in hospital under observation, was upset over the ex-commando engineer challenging his “manliness”.

Mr Hookem added: “He emailed me this morning saying he wanted to meet with me. He said he’s ashamed of what’s gone on.

“He wants to shake hands and make up. I’ve said I’m quite happy with that.”

Ukip MEPs said Mr Woolfe had twisted events to win sympathy for himself.

One said: “Nobody can know for sure what happened as it was only the two of them in the anteroom.”

Ukip’s Jonathan Arnott said the episode showed Mr Woolfe can no longer stand as the party’s next leader.