Ukip chief Henry Bolton today made clear he is back with model ex-girlfriend Jo Marney – and warned that the party could be over if he is sacked at an emergency meeting next weekend.
Mr Bolton admitted there were still ‘strong affections’ with Miss Marney despite previously insisting he had ended their relationship after racist messages surfaced.
He also refused to challenge statements that Miss Marney was his girlfriend, after they were spotted out together last week.
The defiant stance, in an appearance on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, came as Mr Bolton fights to stay as leader after most of the party’s senior members quit their posts in protest.
In an appearance on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show today, Mr Bolton admitted there were still ‘strong affections’ with Jo Marney
Mr Bolton, 54, claimed to have dumped the 25 year-old as he scrambled to try to salvage his political career – but has been spotted out several times with her since the scandal.
He was seen at a bar in Folkestone last week with the ex glamour model, who he left his wife and young children for over Christmas.
Asked today whether he was ‘in love’ with Miss Marney, Mr Bolton said: ‘There are strong affections for her, yes.’
Challenged that he had previously promised to end the relationship with Miss Marney, Mr Bolton said that was ‘not the point’.
Next weekend Mr Bolton, a former Army officer will be hauled in for a crunch meeting that will decided if he stays on as leader or is booted out.
But he warned today that ejecting him would plunge the party into chaos and potentially end it as a political force.
Mr Bolton admitted there had been a ‘problem with my judgment around that whole episode’ around Miss Marney, but added: ‘The point is that actually we are off, and we have been for a very long time, off the field in terms of the debate on leaving the European Union.
‘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 also claimed that Miss Marney had been harshly treated and there was ‘context’ to her messaged that meant they were not as offensive – suggesting that would be revealed in the course of this week.
Ukip leader Henry Bolton has been spotted out with his glamour model girlfriend Jo Marney – despite insisting he has dumped her to cling on to his job (file pic)
Mr Bolton left his wife Tatiana Smurova, 42, and young children for Miss Marney over the Christmas break.
Within days of going public with the affair it emerged that she had sent racist messages about Prince Harry’s fiance Meghan Markle.
Ms Marney said Prince Harry’s ‘black American’ fiancee will ‘taint’ the Royal Family with ‘her seed’ and pave the way for a ‘black king’.
Ms Marney also says that she would never have sex with ‘a n***o’ because they are ‘ugly’.