Henry Bolton claims racist messages from Jo Marney were 'doctored'
2 min read
Henry Bolton has claimed that racist messages from his mistress Jo Marney were "doctored" to make her look worse.
The embattled Ukip leader faces a vote from party members on February 17 over whether he can remain at the helm, following sustained criticism from other senior party figures.
The row stems from Facebook messages sent by Mr Bolton's 25-year-old girlfriend, in which she said Meghan Markle would "taint" the royal family and also described Muslims as a "cancer".
Appearing on the Andrew Marr Show this morning, he hinted that he and Ms Marney were still together, despite him previously announcing they had split up.
Asked whether he was still in love with her, Mr Bolton replied: "There's a lot of affection there, yes."
And he came to her defence over the racist messages, claiming they had been edited before being leaked to the media.
"The source of those tweets has already said publicly that they were doctored...
"The source of those, one of those texts - or a couple of them...he has said they were doctored by him and, indeed, in the days to come there will be more evidence presented as to how they were obtained."
Mr Bolton also claimed he had the backing of most of the Ukip membership.
"I'm getting a huge amount of support from round the country because the membership know what's been going on within the party for a long time and they know I'm not responsible for that...they actually know that I'm embarked on an agenda because I've been touring around the country since October and they are very well aware of the agenda I've embarked on," he said.
Even if Mr Bolton clings on, his party still faces massive structural problems, with its support in the opinion polls plummeting to just 3% and questions over the party's finances.
Last month saw a flurry of resignations from Ukip spokespeople such as Tim Aker, Mike Hookem, David Kurten and Peter Whittle.
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