By Steven Martin Kensington

Birmingham, UK – Bolton was removed from his leader position in UKIP after 63% of 1,378 members voted against him in a no-confidence motion this Saturday. The acquittal follows his ex-girlfriend Joe Marney being exposed for having sent racist text messages about Meghan Markle, but the supporters of the decision claim it was taken due to poor leadership on Bolton’s part.

Bolton has threatened to sue UKIP over the issue and branded his critics as ‘the enemy within’ according to extracts from his removal speech leaked to Mail Online. One UKIP member told Mail Online that his words “were nearly drowned out with boos” from the audience.

His acquittal will force the fifth election of a UKIP leader within two years, causing concern of who will take his place. Nigel Farage has said before that the party would go down the road of ‘self-destruction and irrelevance’ if he was ousted, but members contend that they already had talks of candidates for the next leader prior to the vote. Gerard Batten took the position as an interim leader in the party, and said he thought the right decision had been made. In the speech he also gave a message to Bolton to ‘Get on with the rest of your life.’ He also said that ‘I feel optimistic that UKIP can and will grow stronger and more successful because ordinary patriotic people want, need and deserve a party that represent their interests.’

Bolton said after the vote that he was uncertain whether he would try becoming leader again, but suggested other options, such as joining or setting up a new party. He feels confident he still has a future in politics, saying ‘it’s not a great feeling but you can’t keep a good man down and I have not finished with politics. It’s just one of those bumps in the road.’