Ukip leader’s future in doubt after party vote
After just four months, Henry Bolton’s future as leader of Ukip was hanging by a thread last night as the party passed a vote of no confidence in him. It follows his short-lived relationship with Jo Marney, a model almost 30 years his junior, who was embroiled in a row over racist texts.
THE future of Henry Bolton, the Ukip leader, was hanging by a thread last night after his party issued a vote of no confidence following his affair with a 25-year-old glamour model.
The decision by Ukip’s National Executive Committee would seemingly bring down the curtain on Mr Bolton’s four-month reign as party leader, which has unravelled spectacularly since his relationship with Jo Marney emerged.
However Mr Bolton, a former Army officer, last night said he would fight on, putting his fate in the hands of Ukip’s members at an extraordinary general meeting, the staging of which, he admitted, could bankrupt the party.
Mr Bolton, 54, left his wife Tatiana,
‘A vote at this time to remove the leader ... undermines the integrity, cohesion and focus of the party’
42, for Ms Marney just after Christmas. He faced a volley of calls to resign after Ms Marney was revealed to have made highly offensive comments about Meghan Markle, Prince Harry’s fiancée, and black people. Following the outcry, Mr Bolton said their “romantic” relationship was over. But he admitted they were “still in touch”.
Mr Bolton was grilled for two and a half hours at an emergency NEC meeting yesterday. At its conclusion, 13 of its 14 members voted that they had no confidence in their leader; only Mr Bolton himself – who remained in the room – voted that he should carry on.
An extraordinary general meeting will now be held within 28 days.
Last night Mr Bolton was defiant, telling The Daily Telegraph it was a case of “kill or cure”. He said: “The members elected me. If the members want to lose me then that is up to the members.
“A vote at this time to remove the leader is a vote that undermines the integrity, cohesion and focus of the party and I do not think that is a good thing.”
He admitted that the cost of holding the EGM could “probably” push the party over the edge financially – but he would not resign. He denied that he had brought the situation on himself by starting the relationship, adding: “The situation ... in my own domestic life has been exploited by those people within the party who wish to perpetuate their own career, their own self-interest, to the detriment of the party.”