Nigel Farage has said the embattled Ukip leader, Henry Bolton, would lose a vote of party members if it were held on Wednesday but said next month’s extraordinary general meeting was a huge opportunity to reform the party.
“I’m not saying I support Henry Bolton,” the former Ukip leader told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday.
“But what I do support is him saying to the NEC: ‘I’m not going to take your judgment, I’m going to move this on to a full extraordinary general meeting of the Ukip membership.’ That gives us a huge opportunity. Perhaps by accident but a huge opportunity.”
“If there was an EGM tomorrow, Henry Bolton would lose it very heavily indeed. There is no question. But he has a month to make his case. And he has the microphone because he now has a huge profile, not all for the right reasons.”
Farage said he and other former Ukip leaders Diane James and Paul Nuttall had experienced similar frustrations with the party’s NEC.
“If he’s able in a month to put together a new constitution and a new management structure for the party that shows the leader needs to be able to lead, he might just win the day,” he said.
The radio host, who has long been rumoured to be considering setting up his own new party with former donor Arron Banks, said he did not think a new project was the answer to Ukip’s problems.
“It’s very difficult to start new political parties in Britain and Ukip has an established brand,” he said. “If Ukip reforms it can fight future battles it may well be needed for. If it doesn’t reform, it will die.”
Bolton said he has put his romantic relationship on hold while he battles to save his leadership of the party, saying he planned wholesale reform of Ukip’s ruling body.
Bolton, who has held the role for four months, said he would not quit the party after losing a vote of no confidence at Ukip’s ruling body over his relationship with Jo Marney, after it was revealed she sent racist messages about Prince Harry’s fiancee, Meghan Markle.
A string of senior Ukip spokespeople have resigned their roles and called on Bolton to step down, including his own deputy leader, Margot Parker.
Bolton said there was a “big demand in the party for reform and change” and said the national executive committee had been an obstacle to that change.
The NEC had powers to make and veto policy when it should act more like a board of trustees, Bolton said.
“For me it’s about the party; I’m committed to the idea that Ukip needs to project its voice strongly into the debate about leaving the European Union,” he said. “I will do my very best to help the party do, and that’s my objective.”
Bolton, who has been photographed with Marney since declaring his relationship with the model was over, admitted he considered the relationship to be on hold.
“We are in touch. She collected her bag from my apartment, she was there for 21 minutes, we can prove that,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“We are in close contact but the romantic side of the relationship is on hold. It won’t go any further if that is a problem for the party.”
Pressed on whether the pair could eventually rekindle their romance, Bolton said: “We could potentially. At the moment I have things in my personal life to sort out and so does she. The focus is absolutely making the party fit to fight to go into the debate about leaving the European Union.
“Who knows what the future contains? Most probably it will not come back together but it certainly won’t if that’s going to damage the ability of the party to protect its policies.”
Bolton said he was not concerned by the swath of resignations. “A number of spokesmen haven’t actually delivered very much. It’s about who is actually delivering here,” he said.
