Homophobic incidents are so common in Ukip that the party has started recycling old apologies

The party may have run out of ways to say sorry after a spate of homophobic incidents

A Ukip rosette (Reuters)

Ukip seems to be re-using old statements apologising for homophobia by its supporters after a rush of similar incidents in recent months

The party has twice released the same statement in response to two separate incidents, both weeks apart – prompting jokes that the party could be “running out of ways to say sorry”.

In the most recent incident, the ‘Christian Soldiers in UKIP’ group handed out a leaflet at the party’s spring conference in Margate arguing that sexual education in schools was “sexual grooming”.

On Friday, Ukip released a statement which said: “These groups are authorised but not official, they are mechanisms for members with shared interests to associate but have no official role or status. They do not represent the party or its policies.

“This leaflet was recently brought to our attention. Authorised groups are not allowed to invent UKIP policy, and we do not consider that this leaflet is of an acceptable standard to be associated with the UKIP brand.”

The statement is identical to one issued about a month ago in response to a separate incident.

On February 4, the party issued a response to news that the ‘Christian Soldiers’ were distributing literature which branded Manchester’s gay pride celebrations a “parade of wickedness”

“These groups are authorised but not official, they are mechanisms for members with shared interests to associate but have no official role or status. They do not represent the party or its policies,” the earlier statement said.

“This leaflet was recently brought to our attention. Authorised groups are not allowed to invent UKIP policy, and we do not consider that this leaflet is of an acceptable standard to be associated with the UKIP brand.”

The similarity between two statements was first spotted by the Pink News website, which told its readers that “UKIP appears to be running out of ways to say sorry” for homophobia.

Ukip has suffered a series of high-profile homophobic incidents in recent months.

Last month Ukip candidate Donald Grewar resigned after endorsing comments calling gay people “perverts” and “paedophiles” on the BNP website.

The party also dropped plans to allegedly appoint the notorious anti-gay Christian preacher George Hargreaves in the Coventry South seat.

In December the party’s candidate in a top target seat, Kerry Smith, resigned for having referred to gay Ukip members as “disgusting poofters”.