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Ukip leader Henry Bolton has suffered another blow to his position after the chairman of the party's Kent County association said he should quit.
Nicole Bushill says she has begged the leader to stand down following revelations that his glamour model girlfriend posted racist texts and claimed Prince Harry’s fiancee Meghan Markel would "taint" the Royal Family.
Ms Bushill, who stood for Ukip as a parliamentary candidate for Chatham and Aylesford in 2017, said the party’s prospects in council elections in May would be damaged if he remained.
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Mr Bolton tried to draw a line under the saga yesterday by revealing that he had decided to end his relationship with the 25-year-old glamour model Jo Marney.
She was revealed to have made a series of racist comments in a series of texts published by a national newspaper at the weekend.
Ms Bushill said she had not supported Mr Bolton for leader but as a believer in democracy had pledged her full support.
However, she said that she could no longer do so because of the revelations and feared the party's prospects in local council elections in May would be damaged if he stayed in the job.
“The regular media stories from the last week lead me to believe that members want him to go and members of the public are appalled by his behaviour towards his wife and his judgement in having a relationship with Ms Marney.”
“They are also shocked at his support to Ms Marney and her family following the release of the appalling messages and the exposure of her comments on social media when he should be supporting his family.
“In Kent we have local elections in three of the 17 branches and I want our candidates and activists to campaign on issues that are important to us and to the people we seek to represent not to have to face questions about about our leader’s love life.
"I do not think this will happen until Mr Bolton resigns, particularly as he is from Kent, as is Ms Marney.”
Mr Bolton’s difficulties have led the party's national executive committee to arrange a meeting on Sunday to consider the future for the leader.
He has insisted that he will not stand aside as leader after declaring that he had broken off the romantic element of his relationship with the model from Maidstone.