UKIP MEP Woolfe 'offers hand of friendship' to Hookem after saying he 'came at him'
Mike Hookem claims he defended himself from his colleague as an investigation by the EU Parliament is launched into what happened.
Friday 7 October 2016 13:15, UK
Steven Woolfe has reached out the "hand of friendship" to Mike Hookem after claiming that his MEP colleague "came at me and landed a blow".
Another UKIP member MEP Nathan Gill told reporters in Strasbourg that Mr Woolfe was recovering well after collapsing in the parliament building following an earlier "altercation".
Mr Woolfe, 49, has been moved to a neurological ward where he will undergo 48 hours of observation on Thursday.
Mr Hookem, meanwhile, has told the BBC Mr Woolfe objected to comments he had made and asked him to "take it outside of the room...'mano a mano'," and was then forced to defend himself after his fellow MEP "came at me".
He added that after a "scuffle", Mr Woolfe fell back into a room onto another MEP and there was "no indication of him hitting his head".
Mr Farage has said an investigation will take place next week but has also criticised UKIP figures who publicly commented on the incident, the fallout from which has threatened to tear the party apart.
Meanwhile, the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, suggested that it could result in disciplinary action and launched an investigation into what happened.
Mr Gill, who spoke to Mr Woolfe on Friday morning, said: "He is in good form. He's been observed overnight. They've been waking him just as a precaution to keep an eye on him. He was very tired and quite groggy but is now in a better state.
"The hospital have moved him to the neurological department as a precaution and they have asked to keep him in for a further 48 hours.
"Steven has this morning reached out the hand of friendship to Mr Hookem, to Mike, and has realised that things did go too far in the MEP meeting so he's made moves forward for keeping us as a band of friends."
Mr Farage said in a statement: "I confirm that I have asked the Party Chairman and Party Secretary to conduct an investigation early next week from which the truth will be discovered.
"All other claims being made in the media by representatives of UKIP who were not even there at the time are extremely unhelpful."
Some of those "claims" prompted UKIP funder Arron Banks to threaten to leave the party if UKIP Welsh AM Neil Hamilton and MP Douglas Carswell remain as members and if Mr Woolfe is prevented from running for leader.
Mr Woolfe, who was among the first to say he was standing for the leadership, accused MEP Mike Hookem of losing his temper and pushing him into a door frame during a meeting designed to clear the air between UKIP's MEPs.
Mr Woolfe told the Daily Mail: "Mike was obviously very angry and lost his temper.
"I wasn't bruising for a scrap. I asked to deal with the matter outside of the room because it was flaring up in the meeting and upsetting everybody, and Mike clearly read that totally the wrong way.
"It was a completely unexpected incident.
"Mike came at me and landed a blow. The door frame took the biggest hit after I was shoved into it and I knew I'd taken a whack and was pretty shaken."
Mr Hookem, 62, told the BBC he followed Mr Woolfe out into an anteroom after they had disagreed and then "When I walked in he approached me to attack me. He came at me, I defended myself. There were no punches thrown, there was no face slapping, there were no digs, there was nothing."
After that, he said: "I at that point was not holding him. I didn't push him. He fell back into that room onto an MEP that was stood just inside that room. there was no indication of him hitting his head on metal windows or anything else."
Mr Gill said there had been no police involvement and Mr Woolfe did not want there to be.
He added that his colleague now needs some privacy to recover and it was too early to say whether it would affect his bid for the leadership.
Mr Schulz said in a statement: "This kind of conduct might result in a breach of Rule 11 of Parliament's Rules of Procedures and of Article 1 of the Code of Conduct for Members of the European Parliament."
The chairman of the EU Parliament's Code of Conduct Advisory Committee, Conservative MEP Sajjad Karim, said he welcomed the chance to investigate what happened and promised to "move quickly".
The incident threatens to further damage the reputation of UKIP, which is locked in a leadership crisis following the resignation of Diane James just 18 days after she was elected as leader.