Henry Bolton has been ousted as Ukip leader by party members. A vote today endorsed the no confidence decision of the NEC:- There were 1378 ballot papers
- 11 were spoiled
- 867 supported the motion of no confidence (63%)
- 500 members backed Bolton (37%)
Gerard Batten was made interim leader. The party will now have its fourth leadership election since the EU referendum. Bolton became leader just 142 days ago.
Guido caught up with Bolton shortly after he learnt of his fate:
This afternoon’s EGM saw the bitter divisions in the party played out in front of an estimated 2000 Kippers who gathered at the ICC in Birmingham. Bolton accused an “enemy within” of working to undermine him by means of smear campaign. Party Secretary Paul Oakley told the room Bolton threatened legal action earlier this week in an effort to try to stop the EGM taking place. Sources said Bolton later reiterated that threat during the meeting and was booed. A particularly scathing speech from Steve Crowther tore into Bolton’s record as leader and accused him of lying on his CV. Kippers leaving the meeting told Guido that Bolton failed to address the Jo Marney scandal in his speech…
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