Former Tory and UKIP MEP, Janice Atkinson, joins forces with French National Front in the EU Parliament

Former Tory, former UKIP, now independent MEP Janice Atkinson has signed up as co-president of a new grouping in the EU Parliament led by the French National Front's Marine Le Pen.

Atkinson defected from the Conservatives to UKIP in 2011 and was elected as a UKIP MEP last year. She was expelled from UKIP earlier this year after her assistant was caught asking a restaurant owner to falsify receipts for expenses.

Her joining forces with the Front National means that Le Pen has been able to form the Europe of Nations and Freedom group and access millions of pounds of funding.