Daily Mail says Nigel Farage 'plotting Ukip comeback' in secret talks
Nigel Farage has struck a secret deal with embattled Ukip leader Henry Bolton designed to pave the way for his return to frontline politics, party sources have claimed.
Under
the plan, Mr Bolton – who is refusing to resign over his relationship
with glamour model Jo Marney – would rip up the party’s management
structure before standing aside for Mr Farage to return.
In return, Mr Bolton would be rewarded with a senior job by Mr Farage, who would then rebrand the party as a pro- hard-Brexit ‘movement’ – potentially with a new name.
Talks: Embattled Ukip leader Henry Bolton, left, and former party chief Nigel Farage, right, in 2016
The
plan, which sources say Mr Farage has confided to friends, would
explain why Mr Bolton, 54, has stayed in his job despite a vote of no
confidence being passed by Ukip’s ruling body last weekend and mass
resignations by the party’s spokespeople.
The
vote followed The Mail on Sunday’s revelations that Ms Marney, 25, had
sent racist texts about Meghan Markle. An extraordinary general meeting
of party members will be held next month to decide whether Mr Bolton
should be forced out.
With Ukip
haemorrhaging members and close to bankruptcy, many analysts believe it
could soon be extinct. But allies of Mr Farage, including the
multi-millionaire businessman and former Ukip donor Arron Banks, believe
there is a gap in the market for a new party – or a reformed and
rebranded Ukip.
Mr Farage has told his
friends that Ukip does not have a future unless its ruling National
Executive Committee is scrapped and the organisation streamlined. If Mr
Bolton survives the vote, Mr Farage is understood to have urged him to
carry out the reforms in return for his support.
Lovers: Bolton with Jo Marney, who outraged party members with racist texts about Meghan Markle
Mr
Bolton announced earlier this month that he had left his wife Tatiana,
42, with whom he has two children, and started a relationship with Ms
Marney.
Ukip was then plunged into
civil war by our revelations of Ms Marney’s messages, which claimed that
Prince Harry’s fiancee would ‘taint’ the Royals with her ‘seed’ and
pave the way for a ‘black king’.
Yesterday,
Mr Bolton insisted his relationship with Ms Marney – which ended
shortly after our revelations became public – was not just about sex and
there were ‘feelings on both sides’.
In
an interview, he admitted he spoke to his ex-girlfriend ‘most nights’
and was worried about the ‘consequences’ if he left her life completely.
Asked about the deal with Mr Farage, a Ukip spokesman said: ‘There are a lot of ifs and buts in that sequence of events.’
Not sure that Nigel needs Henry Bolton to facilitate a return to frontline politics! I suspect that most in the Party would accept him with open arms after the last year and a half of madness under three different Leaders. I don't subscribe to the commonly held view that everything that is wrong with the Party can be laid at the door of the NEC. This is a committee elected by the members that has to run the Party using the constitution as its rule book. It's too easy to blame them for everything and if Nigel wants it dismantled, he will need to find a meaningful replacement, otherwise the Party really will become a personal fiefdom.
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