UKIP leader refuses to quit despite mass resignations

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January 22, 2018 6:06 PM

Britains anti-EU, anti-immigration UK Independence Party was in chaos Monday after its leader Henry Bolton refused to resign despite calls from a string of senior colleagues.

The 54-year-old former soldier said attempts to remove him were a distraction from efforts to ensure the government was delivering Brexit, and warned he would act against those involved in "factional in-fighting".

"I shall not be resigning as party leader," he said in a statement.

Brexit was "the most pressing matter facing our country, and I am determined not to allow the national executive committee (NEC) to distract the party away from participating fully in the independence debate".

The NEC, UKIP's ruling committee, on Sunday declared a vote of no confidence in their leader, prompting an exodus of senior figures who demanded he quit.

It followed a scandal over racist messages sent by Bolton's girlfriend about Prince Harry's mixed race fiancee Meghan Markle.

Bolton, who left his wife last year, ended the relationship with 25-year-old party activist Jo Marney after her messages were published in a newspaper.

But assistant deputy leader Mike Hookem, a member of the European Parliament, was among the party members who said they could no longer serve under Bolton amid what he said was "an almost farcical scandal".

"UKIP is now in the preposterous situation of the leader's private life being of more interest than the party," Hookem wrote in his resignation letter.

The NEC's vote of no confidence opens the way for a full vote by party members in 28 days time.

Bolton said that during that time, he would seek to unite the party to campaign on Brexit issues.

He will also seek major reform of the party's governing body and rules, saying the NEC had lost his confidence and that of party members.

"It is now time to put an end to the factional in-fighting within the party and to remove those who have been a part of that," he said.

Echoing US President Donald Trump during his election campaign, Bolton added: "it is time to 'Drain the Swamp'."

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