UKIP should dissolve, says founder of party created to achieve Brexit

LONDON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The founder of the British political party UK Independence Party (UKIP) said Tuesday the party should be dissolved and disappear.

Alan Sked, emeritus professor of international history at the London School of Economics, said the love life of its present leader Henry Bolton had made the party a national joke.

UKIP has been plunged into chaos after its national executive committee unanimously passed a vote of no confidence in Bolton after he faced calls to resign.

His refusal to quit Monday was followed by most of the party's front-bench team quitting.

One-time UKIP leader Nigel Farage said in media interviews Tuesday that Bolton should not quit his role as leader.

In an article in the Guardian newspaper on Tuesday, Sked was reported as saying: "As its founder I can only suggest that it should now dissolve itself. There may be a need for a party to hold the Conservatives (Britain's ruling party) to account over Brexit but that is not UKIP. It now lacks all political credibility and provokes laughter rather than sympathy. It is high time, therefore, for it to disappear."

Married father-of-two Bolton confirmed he was dating glamour model Jo Marney, 25. It emerged that before the two started their relationship, Marney had sent a number of offensive text messages about Meghan Markle, the American actress soon to marry Queen Elizabeth II's grandson, Prince Harry.

A poll of UKIP members is now scheduled to take place within 28 days to determine Bolton's future as leader.

In his Guardian article, Sked adds: "The love life of its present leader has made it a national joke and the party's MEPs and so-called front bench have deserted him. Indeed, UKIP may not be able to afford to run a new leadership election."

Sked formed the party in 1991 as the Anti-Federalist League to campaign for Britain to leave the EU. It changed its name to UKIP two years later.

In the 2015 general election, the UKIP failed to see any of its candidates elected to the House of Commons, but won more than 10 percent of the votes. Two years later in the snap election called by Prime Minister Theresa May, UKIP's share of the vote collapsed to less than 2.0 percent, prompting its then leader Paul Nuttall to quit. Enditem