party's spokesman on employment in the European parliament because he thought the Conservatives' new policy on not supporting a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty was "confused" and "essentially cosmetic". UKIP On 12 October 2011, Helmer announced that he would resign from the European Parliament at the end of the year, citing "increasing disillusion with the attitudes of the Conservative Party" as the main reason, although also stating that his "twelve-and-a-half years banging my head against the same brick wall in Brussels is perhaps long enough". Helmer expected to be replaced by Rupert Matthews who was next on the Conservative party list in the 2009 European Parliament election. However the party was reported to be looking into golliwog dolls featuring on the front cover of a book published by a company of which Matthews is director and shareholder and would not confirm that Matthews would succeed him. Helmer delayed standing down, before it was announced on 2 March 2012 that he had defected from the Conservatives to the UK Independence Party. He faced accusations of hypocrisy as he had demanded in November 2000, that MEP Bill Newton Dunn immediately resign as a result of his move from Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats. On 6 April 2014, Helmer visited the congress of Conservative People's Party of Estonia in Tallinn and gave a speech in support of Euroscepticism in Estonia. On 6 May 2014 it was announced on the official UKIP website that Helmer would contest the Newark by-election, following the resignation of former Conservative MP Patrick Mercer. He came second with 25%, behind the Conservative Robert Jenrick who received 45% of the vote. On 25 May 2014, he was re-elected for UKIP as the first on their list for the East Midlands seat in the 2014 European Elections. On 13 June 2017, Helmer announced he would be resigning from the European Parliament, citing age and health status as reasons, but amid allegations of misuse of public funds. He was succeeded by Jonathan Bullock. Views Rape stance In May 2011, Helmer supported Ken Clarke's comments on reduced prison sentences for rape by comparing stranger rape and date rape. He said: "Let me make another point which will certainly get me vilified, but which I think is important to make: while in the first case, the blame is squarely on the perpetrator and does not attach to the victim, in the second case the