Ukip chief still has ‘strong affections’ for race-row girlfriend
UKIP leader Henry Bolton said he has “strong affections” for the young woman who made a string of racist comments about Meghan Markle.
Asked by Andrew Marr yesterday if he was “still in love” with model Jo Marney, 25, Mr Bolton suggested they were still together, saying: “There are strong affections there, yes.”
The row erupted after it emerged Miss Marney had sent racist private messages on Facebook, including one saying Prince Harry’s fiancee would “taint” the Royal Family.
At the time, Mr Bolton described the messages as “utterly indefensible” and said he had ended the relationship.
Mr Bolton told Marr on his morning BBC show the “general consensus” was there was a “problem with my judgment around that whole episode”.
He added: “What we should be doing is shaping the future of this country’s independence, and that’s what we should be focusing on, not whether or not somebody, way before I met them, actually sent private messages that actually had nothing to do with me and I had no means of knowing about.”
Mr Bolton said he is confident he will win the backing of his party in a vote of members next weekend.
Asked by Marr if his leadership was over, he said: “No, I don’t believe it is.”
Mr Bolton, who became UKIP’S fourth leader in 18 months in September, said the party could not afford another “four or five-month” leadership election.
The former Army captain left his second wife, with whom he has two children, last December to spend Christmas with Miss Marney.