Crisis-hit UKIP decides fate of latest leader

Members of Britain's anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) will decide Saturday whether to keep their latest leader following pressure over his private life that he compared to the scrutiny of Princess Diana. Henry Bolton, who was elected in September, has refused to quit despite a vote of no confidence by UKIP's ruling committee, and party members will now decide his fate.
Under the former leadership of Nigel Farage, the anti-immigration party was instrumental in the 2016 vote for Brexit, but has since been dogged by in-fighting, financial woes and falling public support. Bolton, a former army officer, is the third elected leader since Farage stepped down and has vowed major reform of the party.
However, he risked derision by comparing the scrutiny over his private life to that of Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi al-Fayed, in the weeks before they died in a Paris car crash in 1997. "I understand the scrutiny and public interest but it's been going on for six weeks. There's probably been nothing like that since the Profumo affair or Diana and Dodi," he told Sky News television.
John Profumo was forced to resign as war minister in 1963 after having an affair with a woman who was also involved with a Russian diplomat, in a scandal that almost brought down the government. The challenge to Bolton's leadership came after he left his wife and began an affair with a young UKIP activist, who was subsequently exposed for sending racist messages about Prince Harry's fiancee Meghan Markle.
Bolton has ended the relationship but a string of senior UKIP politicians resigned over his leadership, warning the situation had become "almost farcical". At an extraordinary general meeting in the central English city of Birmingham on Saturday, UKIP members will decide whether to endorse last month's no confidence vote by UKIP's national executive committee.
If they support the move, UKIP will face another leadership election - and Bolton has not ruled out standing again. UKIP won significant public support for its eurosceptic stance in the years running up to the EU referendum, but the vote for Brexit has left it struggling to find a role.