West Midlands MEP Nikki Sinclaire fell out with her UKIP colleagues last year, but she tells Political Editor Jonathan Walker why she could still return to the fold – and why she turns her back when she hears Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

A rebel MEP who was expelled from UKIP and took the party to an employment tribunal has said she still hopes to stand in the next European elections – as a UKIP candidate.

Nikki Sinclaire said she could still patch things up with her party despite a bitter public feud with leader Nigel Farage and an ongoing row over allegations of sexism and homophobia.

Ms Sinclaire revealed this was not the first time she took legal action against UKIP. A High Court ruling in 2004 found in her favour after the party attempted to remove her from its National Executive Committee.

She went on to become the second UKIP MEP representing the West Midlands when she was elected in 2009.

Speaking to the Birmingham Post, Ms Sinclaire also said she had spent £11,000 from EU funds on newspaper adverts to promote her campaign for a referendum on leaving the EU.

The campaign, backed by West Midlands UKIP MEP Mike Nattrass and celebrity chef Rustie Lee, has so far attracted 50,000 signatures.

She said: “The adverts were paid for out of my communication budget, and that had to be pre-approved by the Parliament. It was fantastic to get that.”

Ms Sinclaire’s joy in becoming UKIP’s second West Midlands MEP in 2009 quickly turned sour after she fell out with her colleagues in 2010 over her refusal to sit with the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group, UKIP’s group in the European Parliament.

This included parties from other European nations, including some which she considered to be homophobic and anti-semitic.

As a result, she was stripped of the party whip, preventing her from calling herself a UKIP MEP or standing as a UKIP candidate in future elections.

Ms Sinclaire has also claimed her poor relationship with Nigel Farage, UKIP’s leader from 2007 to 2009 – who became party leader for a second time last November – was a factor in her expulsion.

Since then, she has been joined as an independent by Mike Nattrass, the other UKIP MEP in the West Midlands, and Trevor Colman, UKIP MEP for the South-west, both of whom have left the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group.

However, unlike Ms Sinclaire, neither of them was disciplined by UKIP.

Ms Sinclaire won a claim for sex discrimination against her former colleagues at UKIP at an employment tribunal last December.

But despite the result she said she would be happy to return to the fold if she got the chance.

She said: “There are ongoing issues at the moment, but I have been at loggerheads with UKIP before and then came back.

“So I wouldn’t rule it out.”