Ming the MEP attributes success to Facebook and physical fitness

Cannabis campaigner Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan is on his way from Dáil Éireann to Brussels by virtue of a sensational win in the Midlands North-West constituency.

Dapper, though tie-less, in a brown suit, the MEP to-be was in a smiling and relaxed mood when he visited the Euro count centre in Castlebar, Co Mayo yesterday afternoon.

He stopped to chat with anti-austerity protesters at the entrance to the ballroom where the count was taking place, in marked contrast to the arrival of Taoiseach Enda Kenny, who had earlier entered by another door in order to avoid the strident activists.