UPDATE
Bolton will not stand down – see his statement here: http://www.westmonster.com/henry-bolton-im-not-going-anywhere/
Below are resignation statements from members of Henry Bolton’s shadow cabinet which were made public today. Please be aware that they are not resigning from the Party, as the MSM are now trying to spin it. They are only resigning from the shadow cabinet posts.
First, this statement from Mike Hookem MEP:
“Although I did not make it public at the time, I resigned my position as Assistant Deputy Leader of UKIP on Friday morning, both verbally and in writing.
I kept this private, as I had no-intention of pre-empting the decision of the NEC and also to give Mr Bolton the opportunity to do the honourable thing and resign.
Rather than media reports being focused on the hard work of the party and our members in fighting for Brexit, the story has become about the leader’s personal life.
This is unfair to all those who have put so much time, effort and money into our party.
Therefore, following the NEC’s meeting and their vote of no confidence in our leader, I now urge Mr Bolton to stand down as a matter of priority, for the good of the party and the grassroots membership.
This would give Mr Bolton a chance to deal with his personal life, away from the media glare; and for UKIP to get back to its aim of fighting for a real Brexit.
I will be not commenting further at this time.”
Mike Hookem MEP
Margot Parker MEP issued the following statement, writing that she has quit as Deputy Leader of UKIP:
“I have spent the spent last few days wrestling with a very difficult situation. I had hoped Henry Bolton, UKIP Leader could ride this out but I came to the decision he could not. The personal life took over the job he was elected to do and has put the Party in limbo.”
Margot Parker MEP
John Bickley, Party Treasurer, sent us his resignation letter earlier this morning:
Dear Henry,
It saddens me to have to officially confirm to you in writing that I am resigning as your ‘Immigration and Integration’ spokesman with immediate effect. It has been a great honour and privilege to represent the party in such an important policy area.
When you were unexpectedly elected leader last September the party saw your CV and believed the Party had elected a ‘man of substance’, a man who realised that after the disasters surrounding the Diane James and Paul Nuttall leaderships it was imperative their leadership was bulletproof, beyond reproach. How wrong we were.
The leader of a political party has to have a high degree of self awareness and judgement, has to be able to see how their behaviour and actions could be used by the press and our enemies to undermine their position and the Party’s reputation. In my opinion your actions have brought the office of leader and the Party into disrepute. We already had a mountain to climb; now we have a whole range of them to surmount.
The narrative from Mrs Bolton’s camp will always trumps yours. It is fruitless you expending energy trying to justify your actions however much you may believe them to be genuine and private. Politics is a brutal business; reputation once lost is lost forever.
Feedback from party members, to head office, MEPs, London and Wales Assembly Members and the NEC shows c.90% of the membership want you to resign. Therefore, if you care for the party please do the honourable thing and resign today. That will allow the Party to move forward and focus on politics, especially Brexit rather than being distracted by the leader’s private life.
I respectfully suggest your time would be better spent sorting out your personal life, away from the intrusive gaze of politics and the incessant harassment you, Ms Marney and your wife would endure if you remain involved.
Your sincerely,
John Bickley, Treasurer and NEC Member
David Kurten AM sent us this statement a short while ago:
To the editor:
I just released this short statement:
“I have written to Henry Bolton and resigned as UKIP Education and Apprenticeships Spokesman. It is time for him to step down with dignity rather than extending the current debacle for another 4 weeks. I will continue to represent the party in the London Assembly.”
Best wishes, David
From the MSM – papers and TV – and social media we learn that the following members of the shadow cabinet have also resigned:
Tim Akers MEP tweeted: ‘Today I am resigning as UKIP’s Local Government spokesman. I cannot continue to serve under Henry Bolton. I hope he does the right thing and resigns before the EGM, so the Party can move forward with a new leader.’, and William Dartmouth MEP (Trade) who said in a letter to the leader: ‘Your position is untenable. I am unable to serve under you.’
Gerard Batten MEP resigned on Friday, Bill Etheridge at the beginning of last week. Finally, here is the first letter from a branch chairman calling on Bolton to go. Patrick Dearsley is Chairman of the Horsham branch:
| Mr Bolton,I trust that this will reach you in your Fuehrerbunker, though evidence suggests you may be cut off, more metaphorically than literally. I understand that Sandhurst teaches a chap to follow orders blindly. I hesitate to speculate where yours may be coming from, but I’d have thought a unanimous vote by the NEC, and 90/10 split among members would convince you that your time is up. Unless of course your whole purpose in becoming leader was indeed to “oversee a dignified burial for UKIP”.You seem unable to grasp that the party is not up in arms out of moral outrage–though there will be some of that–but out of horror at your lack of judgement, political naivete(and that’s putting it politely) and increasingly delusional attachment to “moving forward” and away from the scene of the crash.Despite this temporary(?) chaos, the fact remains that a significant chunk of the electorate is well disposed towards Ukip’s policies, and many are looking for leadership of the Clean Brexit that May is undermining daily. Sadly, if even UKIP diehards cannot take you seriously, there’s no chance that the wider electorate will. If your mission is to destroy UKIP, you have done pretty well so far. If not, kindly step down immediately and give us the chance to clear up this mess.
Patrick DearsleyChairman, Horsham BranchPatron Finally, on ‘order-order’ we read this bit of news: Bolton is currently holed up in a hotel in Folkestone, with a statement promised by 4pm… Will Bolton resign on camera at 4pm? Watch this space … |
Please join our Facebook group to support Gerard Batten MEP for Interim Leader of UKIP. Make it known to NEC members via email that you want our elected UKIP representatives to make Mr Batten our Interim Leader after the EGM. Batten down the hatches!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1989317344624190/
Byron,
I am not on face book but I do strongly support Gerard becoming interim leader once we get rid of Bolton, well done for setting it up, I am sure he will get lots of support from this site. We have got to win by getting the message out there as you say, I am going to emaill all the NEC members ASAP.
Byron,
I think you need to put this thread on the latest column above so everyone gets a chance to see it.
Farage is being honest now about how he feels about the NEC, but not how he is influencing Bolton of course. He will not vote against him at the EGM of that I am sure.
Laying it on about how the press have exploited this affair, but this is a side issue according to Farage.
Birds of a feather…
I find Margot Parker’s statement peculiar. She hopes Henry could have ‘rode it out’. Apart from the double entendre hilarity this provokes in me, why does she hope he could have ridden it out, so it would all have gone away? Why resign if you don’t outright condemn someone?
Classic Fence sitting
Run wiyj the hare and hunt with the hounds
Typo “with”
itchy finger syndrome,
itching to get round someone`s……….
NEC
As a member of UKIP i want to say that i fully support all who have resigned.
I don’t. Now is when we need spokes people to spread awareness ( of any kind ).
Out of the swamp rises Godzilla, the mighty leader, wise and all knowing ( later ), Cunning as well presumably. Well able to overcome reality and produce reasons, and news to overcome his pigmy irritants.
.
I did not believe this was a conspiracy from the beginning, I thought Bolton was too stupid, now I still think he is stupid, but Farage is oh, so sly and thinks he is oh, so clever. However, this could be a good thing if UKIP becomes a major force in politics again.
At long last Henry has stated what our ambitions should be, could it be he will rise like a phoenix from the flames or sink like a dead duck? It is all up in the air now, and someone of substance needs to take him on if they wish to change the outcome to one of their making.
16.25 and BBC says this is his statement 5 minutes ago:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42770361
WHY is Bolton still able to use the services of Gawain Towler.
WHO is paying for their suite (not room) at The Grand in Folkestone
Mr. Bav,
I think it is obvious it is probably Farage along with Arron Banks, this take over would save them setting up a new party, they have spied an opportunity to invade UKIP, make of this what you will as to whether that would be a good or bad thing.
Yes there have been so many cheap infiltrators trying to take over what’s left of UKIP including AMW, JRE/Affinity and Alan Craig/David Kurten/Christian People’s Alliance, so probably Farage and Banks who, after thinking about this for a while, have decided easier to use Henry to try to reform UKIP into something they can then take over, far easier than setting up own party.
Graham,
I am glad you agree with me, but I never saw AMW’s and David Kurten as wanting to take over the party, they just wanted to give it a future, in my eyes that is something different.
Nigel Farage just wants total control to use UKIP as a vehicle to squash the remoaners, that may not be such a bad thing, it depends how you fell about Farage and Bank’s running the show.
You need to read up on Christian People’s Alliance! David was just standing in for Alan Craig, and he won’t deny that if asked directly.
Graham,
Well, if he does not deny it what is the problem? Trouble is HB is not being totally honest is he?
That might have been possible before the prevalence of social media and YouTube but it just won’t happen. Farage’s political influence is on the serious decline. Whether you like her or not AMW is the future. She has the conviction and the straight talking that people want. UKIP is still afraid to talk about Islam in a meaningful way so people will dismiss them. If AMW had the same amount of airtime that HB has had over the last 4 months she would have tens of thousands of members now.
AMW may have been an infiltrator of sorts but cheap she is not.
Anne Marie is no “cheap infiltrator”. She was not itching to leave and form a new party because she would have had it ready to go in October. Instead we are still in the throes of setting it up months later. She might well have stayed in UKIP had not Farage and Bolton made it impossible for her to stay by labelling her a racist Nazi.
“NEC unfit for purpose” “Lost my confidence” “NEC needs reform” “New party constitution” “Time to drain the swamp”
All Bolton quotes just now
Mr. Bav,
Do you think like me that Nigel Farage wrote that speech that Henry has just given, it is obvious now it is Farage v The NEC using Henry as his stalking horse.
Could it be that this was always the intent by creating this awful debacle?
Is this Farage’s UKIP2 party in the making attracting cross party members, I might be seeing things where they don’t exist so someone help me out please.
But what are they up to because this is going to be a monumental fight as to who actually governs this party, and there is no guarantee as to who will win. It is really getting interesting now and UKIP could emerge as something quite different, or just fade into oblivion, I only hope it is not the latter.
If Nigel had written it, it would have been more elegant and less full of bureaucrat-speak. Unless of course Nigel had already thought of that …
Three things are certain. Gawain Towler is still being paid by UKIP and is briefing Bolton. Those scripts are not in Bolton’s hand. The second is that all these hotel suites , travel and expensive dinners with Marney and his ‘aides’ are being paid for by someone. The third is that Farage is interviewing Bolton in the Global (LBC) offices in Leicester Square between 1900 and 2000 tonight and that further London hotels /dinners etc are booked.
So follow the money?
Excellent point!
Surely there is NO basis now for whoever has to sign off on expenses to be continuing to do so ? Would the National Lib Club meal ( for TWO ) be allowed as expenses ? I doubt Mrs Bolton will still be subbing him from Vienna.
Rhys,
It is of no consequence if Nigel is paying, we need to listen to what Henry says tonight when interviewed by Nigel Farage no less, tonight on LBC. Can’t wait, I think then we will know the full extent of this cue detard and decide whether we still want to fight it or get rid of Henry and install Gerard.
Whatever the outcome we need to build up the party again get some respect, win seats and squash the remainers, it depends who you think is best to do that, Gerard with the backing of the majority of the members or Henry with the backing of Farage and the big money Banks.
I might add we do need big names and loads of dosh if we want to keep up the good fight, sometimes you might have to work with people you despise in order to achieve the ultimate goal.
He’s still the leader, so he still has the right to Towler, the expenses, etc.
Farage and his cabal are unfit for purpose. It is they who supported Woolfe, Diane James, and Bolton. Look what they have done to us. Enough is enough.
Byron,
So, what can we do about it? Everyone must vote at the EGM against Henry if you do not want Farage and Bank’s as the power behind the thrown. Then install Gerard and convince him to stay if he does a good job, that is the only answer I can see, what about you?
Byron,
Steven Woolfe may have been a good leader but he was never given the cahnce by his fellow MEP’s, likewise Diane James never got support from them either, they may also be the source of some of our problems apart from Gerard of course.
Pretty sure Alan Sked was spouting similar 20 years ago…
David Sprason as well, now.
Some one point Henry to the Mess Webley. It can usually be found behind the bar wrapped in a copy of Mayfair.
That has given me a good laugh.
I HOPE it’s true and that you are ex Army with personal knowledge.
PS: is Mayfair still available in print or only online ? If the latter perhaps the Webley could be wrapped in the latest Independence mag ??
Indeed, I was often shown the Webley but ensured that the chambers were empty. If you can’t get Mayfair, Playboy or Knave will do. In Henry’s case perhaps he should use his new “constitution”.
Patrick, Excellent letter,
” I hesitate to speculate where yours(orders) may be coming from,”
You may hesitate, I don’t!
1.Look at his CV
2.Look at when he joined us – 2014? when we were seen by the establishment & the EU as a threat
3. Embedding undercover agents & saboteurs in enemy/criminal/terrorist groups is bread and butter in the forces & police
4. To succeed in the above task you have to make yourself fir in and be credible
5. We’ve all been saying why on earth did a man of his calibre not check out the crumpet’s social media accounts before he took it any further – OK branch should have done that & didn’t but he should know what to do and if being leader meant so much he would have – NOW turn that on its head! Suppose he did & found it the ideal nail in coffin opportunity?
I have no idea – a scientist merely forms a theory based on observations and then designs the experiments to test it. And, unlike the politicised climate research mob is not afraid to say they were wrong if the results don’t back the theory.
Thank you, PPM. I was being uncharacteristically dainty but actually thinking of his member. And there will only be one if it goes on like this for long. That said, Rosie Beattie’s contribution was much needed.
Apparently Peter Whittle has gone too?
I bet he resigns at 1600.
Nah:
http://www.westmonster.com/henry-bolton-im-not-going-anywhere/
… unless he comes out crying ‘fooled ya’ and waltzes of with Marney into the rosy distance …
Oh please, please Vivian let it be your last comment.
Reuters- Not resigning
Farage is interviewing him tonight on LBC
He/we couldn’t operate without an NEC could he/we? Any latitude here by which we could effectively force him out?
It’s noticeable that Bolton loves us to hang onto his every word. He mentions thing like ‘this will become clearer in the fullness of time’, and ‘in due course’. Now he’s going to make an announcement ‘at 4pm’ so we’d better make sure we’re all avidly listening to what he has to say! There are those of us who don’t care what he says unless it’s: ‘I resign.’
Debbie I have no doubt that Henry is a narcissist in the clinical sense. He’s never been a Kipper and it appears he is now taking his life’s frustrations out on UKIP.
See his latest comments on Westmonster.
http://www.westmonster.com/henry-bolton-im-not-going-anywhere/
In this Bolton said he’s going to make new appointments after a string of resignations today. Anyone who is stupid enough to accept an appointment will surely become a tainted member and will not be accepted by us the members.
I can think of 2, perhaps 3 members in the whole of Surrey who still think he should stay. Do you think I should alert them to the opportunities available to hold key roles between now and 4pm?
A genuinely laugh out loud comment. Brilliant.
But where can we see or hear Henry at 4pm?
BBC News Channel.
Good letters from John Bickley, Mike Hookem and Patrick Dearsley.
Let’s hope the 4pm statement materialises and that he does the decent thing now. If he does he can be remembered simply for an ill-judged liaison but nothing worse than that cliché. Fight on, embarrass and distract the party further, and his place in history will be the sorrier for it.
I think Henry Bolton has been stitched up by the hierarchy in UKIP. It is clear that Marney had been an active extremist on social media long before she was introduced to Bolton. Why wasn’t she spotted as a trouble maker by UKIP based upon her extreme media posts, she had her own Facebook page which could have easily been reviewed.She made comments regarding the Grenfell fire in June 2017 which could have led to her being suspended. I am sure Boltons election was not only a surprise to many but also a disappointment and that has led to members formulating a plan to get rid of him. It seems to me that there are too many people in UKIP with axes to grind and that will continue whomever is the leader.
I have enough trouble reading Twitter feeds, let-alone Facebook pages.
Tracking social media accounts is a never-ending task, and many branches aren’t that savvy…
I think that Henry has stitched himself up. He has on several issues given reason for many in the party to call for his resignation. He has had a fair chance and often been given the benefit of the doubt. His private life unfortunately does impact on his ability to be an effective leader.
Bolton is an establishment plant, infiltrated into UKIP to inflict maximum damage. He will not go, but insist on a lengthy and costly EGM, which he will pack with his “supporters”, in order to continue the wrecking job he was chosen to do.
I don’t think that can be the case. He’s damaging UKIP, that’s true, but damaging his own reputation even more. There’s nothing in it for him. There’ll be an announcement at 4 p.m.; I’m confident it will be his resignation.
So much for my confidence 🙁
Thinnish Free Thinker,
I agree with you.
If he is anyone’s plant, he is Farage’s plant, as he was his political referee, and this endorsement is what won him the election.