Ukip leader’s family ‘devastated’ over his new model girlfriend
‘Head-over-heels-in-love’ married father of three met self-styled Bad Girl of Brexit at Christmas party
THE MOTHER of Ukip’s leader has said the family are devastated at his behaviour after he left his wife and two children and embarked on a relationship with a blonde model half his age.
Henry Bolton, 54, told party members on Wednesday he was in a relationship with 25-year-old Jo Marney, “somebody who has become increasingly important to me”. He denied they had had a “clandestine affair”.
Senior Ukip sources said Mr Bolton’s marriage to Tatiana Smurova-bolton, 42, with whom he has children aged four and one, was already over by last summer. They said he had met Miss Marney at a Ukip party on Dec 16. “They are head over heels in love,” said one source. “They met at the Christmas party and by then the marriage to Tatiana was already over.”
But Sheila Bolton, 79, said her family were devastated by her son’s behaviour. She told The Daily Telegraph: “I am not going to make any comment but his three siblings – I have got four children – are devastated.”
Asked if she thought it unseemly and embarrassing that her son was in a relationship with a woman 29 years his junior, she said: “You might say that; I couldn’t possibly comment. I am not going to make a bad situation any worse.”
Mr Bolton was elected leader in September. His wife works in Vienna and he has spoken of the strain his new position has put on their marriage.
Mrs Smurova-bolton gave birth to their second child in 2016 at St Pancras station in London after going into labour on the train. Mr Bolton has a third child from his first marriage.
Miss Marney, a Ukip activist who describes herself as the “Bad Girl of Brexit”, has posted many photographs of herself on social media, in various poses and not always wearing much clothing. Her pictures include ones taken with celebrities such as Sir Tom Jones and David Gilmour, of Pink Floyd.
Miss Marney, who was privately educated and worked as a journalist and television presenter as well as a model, defended her relationship on Facebook yesterday. She wrote: “He was in an unhappy marriage and was estranged from his wife. He started dating me and we found that we made each other happy. What’s your issue?”
She went on: “So in your world, no one is allowed to split from their partner? Or is this all because I am young and good looking?” Miss Marney has been criticised for “toxic” posts on social media, once claiming that Grenfell Tower “was a nest of illegal immigrants” which was why authorities had been unable “to identify most of them”.
Mr Bolton and Miss Marney were seen yesterday morning emerging from her family home in Maidstone, Kent.
‘So in your world, no one is allowed to split up? Or is this all because I am young and good looking?’