UKIP leader Henry Bolton hits out at national executive committee

UKIP leader Henry Bolton has said the party's national executive committee (NEC) has no right to sit in judgement on his personal life.

And he warned that UKIP faced extinction if the NEC voted to get rid of him as leader when it meets later.

Mr Bolton has faced repeated calls to quit over offensive texts sent by his former girlfriend.

He told the BBC's Pienaar's Politics the NEC was "not a court of moral judgement".

He said he had ended the "romantic element" of his relationship with Jo Marney after she sent texts saying Prince Harry's fiancee Meghan Markle would "taint" the Royal Family.

But he said he would "support her in rebuilding her life", which he said had been "turned on its head".

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The UKIP leader is preparing to face party chiefs at an emergency meeting of the NEC later.

The committee does not have the power to terminate Mr Bolton's leadership - that requires a vote of the wider party.

He has vowed to carry on as leader if there is a vote of no confidence in him.

If the former army officer were to step down it would leave UKIP seeking its fifth leader in 18 months.

'Survival'

Senior UKIP figures have warned the party faces extinction if he continues as leader - but he claimed that could happen if it was plunged into another leadership contest.

"If the NEC decides to go down the road of months of further in-fighting and further negative media scrutiny by deciding to pass a vote of no confidence in me I think that the reality is that the party is probably over," he told ITV's Peston on Sunday.

He said the NEC should be focusing on ensuring the party's "survival" rather than discussing his leadership.

"Their job should be to ensure the party is capable of projecting its politics," he told 5 live's John Pienaar.

"They should be concerned more about the elements within the party that are busy and engaged with not in-fighting and in undermining party and its coherence.

"That's what the NEC should be focused on. They are not a court of moral judgement. While my personal life is obviously of public interest, this is a matter of the survival and future of UKIP - and that's what they should be looking at," he said.

Former leader Nigel Farage has cautioned over another leadership contest

On his relationship with Jo Marney, he said: "She has been vilified and quite rightly criticised for the statements she's made… She's out of the party and as far as the party and politics is concerned, that has moved on."

Former leader Nigel Farage - who is reported to be considering forming a new party or a cross-party Brexit campaign if UKIP collapses - has said another leadership contest would be "difficult" for the party, which is believed to be heavily in debt.

'Last-chance saloon'

Gerard Batten, UKIP MEP for London, said Mr Bolton's position was "untenable" and that the controversy was "damaging the party".

Mr Batten told BBC Breakfast he was willing to step in as an interim leader.

He said: "On Monday if Henry is still the leader of this party then we are going to lose members, activists, branches and donors - and this jeopardises the very existence of our party."

Patrick O'Flynn, UKIP's MEP for the East of England, told BBC One's Sunday Politics East that the party could be "wiped out" if it does badly in May's local elections.

"There's no doubt the party is drinking in the last-chance saloon," he said.

"If we get wiped out again in the district elections too, then maybe people are going to have to get round the table and say: Is the electorate trying to tell us something and is that 'thank you very much and goodnight'?"

Jonathan Arnott, UKIP's MEP for the North East of England, quit the party amid calls for Mr Bolton to step down, saying the leader was "not the right person for the job" and that UKIP's influence over Brexit was waning.

He said UKIP had "shifted" its stance on religious and cultural issues to a degree he could not support.