Call for Ukip boss to quit after party loses faith

HENRY Bolton’s future as Ukip leader was plunged into doubt last night after the party’s ruling body unanimously declared it had no confidence in him.

The meeting was called following damaging coverage over 4-year-old Mr Bolton leaving his wife for model Jo Marney, 2 , who sent racist texts about Prince Harry’s fiancee, Meghan Markle.

The vote by Ukip’s National Executive Committee means party members will be given a chance to remove the former Army officer less than four months after he was elected.

Last night the party’s Brexit spokesman Gerard Batten quit. The MEP said: ‘I have just resigned as Henry Bolton’s Brexit spokesman and asked him, again, to resign as leader. I will continue to serve the Ukip members.’

Before the meeting, Mr Bolton toured TV studios insisting he would not resign. He claimed ‘subversive elements’ within Ukip were trying to undermine his leadership.

Mr Bolton admitted: ‘My personal life is a bit of a mess at the moment and I need to sort that out, but I’m not letting it distract me one iota from the job of leader.’

Yesterday, ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage denied claims he was planning a new party, but told his LBC radio show he held talks about ‘bringing people together to get the Brexit campaign firing again on all cylinders’.

A Ukip spokesman said the decision on Mr Bolton ‘will automatically trigger an emergency general meeting of the party, to allow the membership of Ukip the democratic opportunity to decide to endorse or reject that vote of no confidence’.

The meeting must be staged within 28 days.

‘Subversive elements’