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Ukip leader Henry Bolton loses vote of no confidence in his leadership

No confidence: Henry Bolton has been facing calls to resign as Ukip leader: PA
No confidence: Henry Bolton has been facing calls to resign as Ukip leader: PA

Ukip leader Henry Bolton is fighting to keep his job after he lost a no confidence vote at a meeting of senior officials.

​The party's ruling committee unanimously backed a vote of no confidence in Mr Bolton on Sunday afternoon.

Members will now decide his fate in a vote at an emergency meeting in February.

Mr Bolton has repeatedly faced calls to quit after his now former girlfriend Jo Marney was revealed to have made highly offensive comments about Meghan Markle and black people.

Ahead of the meeting of Ukip's national executive committee (NEC), Mr Bolton insisted he would not quit and said forcing him out would probably end the party.

Ukip leader Henry Bolton with Jo Marney, 25 (Twitter)
Ukip leader Henry Bolton with Jo Marney, 25 (Twitter)

A Ukip spokesman said earlier: "The committee took the decision to hold a vote of no confidence in the leadership of Henry Bolton.

"The vote was carried unanimously with the exception of the leader.

"This decision 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."

Model Jo Marney, 25, was exposed for sending racist text messages, in which she described black people as ugly and said Ms Markle would "taint" the Royal family, earlier this month.

Split: Henry Bolton and Jo Marney (Twitter)
Split: Henry Bolton and Jo Marney (Twitter)

She was immediately suspended from Ukip and Mr Bolton has since revealed that he has ended the relationship

Earlier he told ITV's Peston on Sunday the party could not afford to have another leadership contest.

He said: "If the NEC decides to go down the road of months of further in-fighting and further negative media scrutiny by deciding to pass a vote of no confidence in me, I think that the reality is that the party is probably over."

The under-fire leader added that a contest to replace him "would be financially almost unviable for the party".

Mr Bolton admitted that he and Ms Marney were "still in touch" after pictures emerged of them meeting up. He left wife Tatiana, 42, prior to the relationship becoming public in early January.

He told Mr Peston: "I don't believe I have done anything wrong.

"My own personal life, it's a little bit of a mess at the moment. I need to sort that out, of course."

Asked about reports his estranged wife still did not know if their marriage was over, he replied: "My wife and I have exchanged lengthy emails on this. We have spoken a couple of times on the phone, but that is my business."

Under Ukip rules, an emergency general meeting must be staged within 28 days.

Members will be told about when and where it will be held in the next 10 days.