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		Tory MEP expelled by EU Parliament group Tuesday 7th June 2005 At a meeting tonight, East Midlands Conservative MEP Roger Helmer was expelled by his political group, the European People's Party (EPP), the largest political group in the parliament. At issue was the Motion of Censure on Commission President Barroso, debated in Brussels on May 31st, relating to lavish hospitality which Barroso had received from a Greek businessman with links to the EU. Five Conservative MEPs including Helmer had signed the motion, but huge pressure was brought by the major political groups, including the EPP, to prevent it being tabled, by getting MEPs' signatures removed. The Tory five were ordered by their Chief Whip to remove their names, but refused to do so. When that tactic failed, the groups used a procedural device to prevent any dissidents from speaking in the debate. Helmer attracted the particular wrath of the EPP group, and its leader, German Christian Democrat Hans-Gert Poettering, by finding an obscure parliamentary rule which enabled him to intervene in the debate. He used the opportunity to make a robust attack on the attempted cover-up by the EPP. The other Conservative co-signatories gave Helmer their full backing, arguing that if he was to be expelled from the EPP, then they should be expelled too. Helmer was expelled from the group by a two-thirds vote at a group meeting tonight, at which he astonished group members by speaking in favour of his own expulsion. He remains a member of the Conservative party, and of the European parliament, and insists that his new status as an unattached MEP will not prejudice his ability to represent his East Midlands constituents, nor to fight for Conservative principles. Mr Helmer has campaigned against British Conservative membership of the EPP group ever since he was elected to the EU parliament in 1999. Citing the recent vote on the Working Time Directive, he argued that the EPP is to the left, not just of British Conservatives, but on many issues to the left of the Labour government as well. It is also passionately federalist, describing itself as "the engine of European integration". Speaking from Strasbourg in the wake of the expulsion, Mr Helmer insisted that: “Only a sense of loyalty to the Tory party has kept me in the “EPP gulag" for six years. I now look forward to life outside the EPP not only with equanimity, but with a large measure of satisfaction. The real question is not why I am leaving the federalist, leftist EPP. The real question is why other Conservative MEPs are still sleeping with the enemy".