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| UKIP members voted to sack embattled leader Henry Bolton | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| UKIP members have voted to sack leader Henry Bolton after controversy over racist messages sent by his partner. | |
| The former army officer's fate was decided after 63% voted to back a no confidence motion at an extraordinary general meeting in Birmingham. | |
| He had faced calls to quit after it emerged his partner Jo Marney sent racist messages about Meghan Markle. | |
| Gerard Batten will take over as interim leader and there will be a leadership election within 90 days. | |
| Following the vote, Mr Bolton, who had been in the job for less than six months, said he had "not finished in politics yet". | |
| He was elected in September in the wake of UKIP's disastrous performance in last year's general election. | |
| The party's national executive committee expressed no confidence in him last month, triggering the ballot. | |
| Outgoing chairman Paul Oakden said: "Henry Bolton has been removed by the democratic decision of the membership". | |
| Mr Bolton, who lost the no confidence motion by 867 votes to 500, was the party's fourth leader in 18 months. | |
| He had replaced Paul Nuttall, who quit after the general election - which saw UKIP's vote share shrink to 1.8% from 12.6% in 2015. |