My much younger lover won’t distract me, insists Ukip chief
UKIP’S leader admitted last night that he had left his 42-year-old wife for a model aged just 25.
Henry Bolton, 54, who took over from Nigel Farage last September, confirmed he had started a relationship in recent weeks with Jo Marney, a party member from Kent.
Miss Marney, who describes herself as a model, actor and journalist, has posted Facebook pictures of her and Mr Bolton together over Christmas.
One shows the pair cuddled up in a bar on Boxing Day.
In a message to Ukip members last night, Mr Bolton admitted the relationship, but denied they had carried out a ‘clandestine affair’.
He wrote: ‘In recent weeks, I’ve had a change in my relationship status.
‘If you follow me on social media – and hopefully you all do – you will have already seen that recently I have spent time with somebody who has become increasingly important to me. This isn’t something that I’ve hidden.’
Mr Bolton said members should ‘be confident that it in no way distracts me or our party from the vital mission we have ahead of us’.
He added: ‘Whilst I fully accept that as a national political figure I can expect to be the subject of media attention, I also believe we’re all entitled to a certain degree of privacy. As such, I’ll be making no further comment on the matter.’
Weeks after becoming Ukip leader, the former army officer and policeman admitted it had already put a strain on his relationship with his second wife, Russian-born Tatiana Smurova, 42.
In 2016, Mrs Smurova-Bolton gave birth to their daughter, Victoria, on a train at London’s St Pancras station.
Mr Bolton, who once tried unsuccessfully to become a LibDem MP, has three children – one aged 32 from his Danish first wife and two aged four and one from Mrs Smurova-Bolton, who is from Kimovsk, near Moscow.
In an interview in October, Mr Bolton said he was considering selling his home in Folkestone so he could remain in the unpaid post of party leader.
In his message to Ukip members last night, Mr Bolton pledged to ‘ramp up’ the party’s profile.
Ukip has fought under Mr Bolton’s leadership to garner attention and is struggling to remain relevant following the Brexit vote and Mr Farage’s departure as leader.