The former Ukip leader Nigel Farage escaped with minor head injuries after a light aircraft towing a "Vote Ukip" banner crashed in Northamptonshire this morning.
The two-seater plane crash landed at Hinton-in-the-Hedges airfield near Brackley. Farage was taken to Horton hospital in Banbury after witnesses saw him walking out of the aircraft covered in blood.
A source at the hospital confirmed that Farage was admitted this morning, although there are conflicting reports about the extent of his injuries. "He's going to be fine," a spokeswoman for Ukip said.
His agent, Chris Adams, told BBC News that Farage had been "drifting in and out of consciousness and is now being X-rayed".
He added: "Nigel was unconscious but he can talk."
The pilot was more seriously hurt with back injuries. He was taken to John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford after being cut out of the plane.
TV footage showed extensive damage to the fixed wing plane, which lay upside down in a field 20m from the airstrip.
The plane was towing a banner with the slogan: "Vote for your country - Vote Ukip." Eyewitnesses said the banned became caught up in the plane's tail fin.
A Ukip spokesman said: "We've had unconfirmed reports that either the banner got snagged up or there were cross-winds and it was an unfamiliar airfield to the pilot, who had to be cut out of the plane."
The plane had flown from the Winchester area early today and into Hinton.
The accident happened as it was taking off again from Hinton, the spokesman said. The plane was due to fly over the counties of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire.
A Northamptonshire police spokesman said: "Just after 8am a light aircraft came down at Hinton in the Hedges airfield near Brackley in Northamptonshire.
"Two people were on board the aircraft, pilot and passenger, and both suffered what are believed to be minor injuries."
The crash is being investigated by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch supported by Northamptonshire police.
Farage, an MEP for the South East of England, is standing for election in Buckingham against the speaker John Bercow. He stood down as the leader of Ukip last year.