UK party leader dumps lover for racial slur on Royal family
The leader of the anti-immigration UK Independence Party announced Monday that he had broken up with his socialite girlfriend after she made racist remarks about Prince Harry’s fiancée Meghan Markle.
Mr Henry Bolton, 54, said his girlfriend Jo Marney claimed Ms Markle — an American actress of mixed parentage — “would taint our royal family with her seed”.
Mr Bolton said he ended his brief relationship with 25-year-old Marney when the Mail on Sunday published “appalling and insulting” text messages she reportedly sent.
“I don’t defend these comments whatsoever … As of last night, the romantic side of our relationship is ended,” he told ITV television.
Mr Bolton, who took up the Ukip leadership in September, said Ms Marney had been suspended from the party.
UNDER PRESSURE
He is under pressure to resign after he left his wife for the socialite less than half his age.
According to the Mail on Sunday, she wrote messages to a friend complaining: “Next will be a Muslim prime minister. And a black king”.
Ms Marney, who in popular culture could be described as a “slay queen”, said she would never have sexual relations with “a negro because they are ugly”.
In a statement, Ms Marney said her remarks were deliberately exaggerated to make a point and were taken out of context, but “I fully recognise the offence they have caused”.
Mr Bolton made headlines this month over his decision to end his marriage and start dating Ms Marney.
He has resisted widespread calls to resign as Ukip’s third elected leader since Mr Nigel Farage stepped down in the wake of Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union.
INFIGHTING
The party has struggled to find a role since the plebiscite and has been beset by infighting.
Alluding to ethnic minorities in general, Ms Marney writes that “they are pushing their way to the top slowly slowly. Next will be a Muslim PM. And a black king”, the Mail said.
According to the paper, when the friend asked her what was wrong with black people, she replied: “Ugly. Not my thing. Just personal taste.”
The socialite sneers at Prince Harry’s engagement to Los Angeles-born Markle — who will marry Harry on May 19 — on grounds that she is a black American, the paper wrote.
Ms Marney also describes Ms Markle as “a scrubber”, a “gender equality t*** who is obsessed with race” and a “dumb little commoner”.
The exposure of her comments comes only days after US President Donald Trump made racist remarks about Haiti and Africa.