Wife of ousted UKIP leader Henry Bolton: I could never have imagined his affair with Jo Marney

Martin Coulter28 February 2018

The estranged wife of ousted UKIP leader Henry Bolton today said she could never have imagined him having an affair and leaving his family.

Mr Bolton began his relationship with model Jo Marney while he was married to Tatiana Smurova, 42.

Ms Smurova, who lives in Vienna with her and Mr Bolton's two young children, appeared on Good Morning Britain today and spoke out about her marriage for the first time.

She told hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid she "could never have imagined" him leaving their family last Christmas after winning the party leadership.

Mr Bolton was forced out of his position as UKIP leader after a vote of no confidence by the party's members earlier this month.

Ms Smurova called her husband's actions 'shocking'
Good Morning Britain

He faced a revolt by several senior figures in the party in protest at his relationship with model Jo Marney, a 25-year-old model embroiled in a racism scandal over text messages she had written about Grenfell Tower victims and Meghan Markle.

Ms Smurova said: "I trusted him 100 per cent. I supported him throughout the years.

"I could never have imagined my husband doing something like that to our family...What happened at Christmas was just so shocking [and] so deeply hurtful."

Ms Smurova went on to rubbish Mr Bolton's claims that their marriage had ended the previous summer, months before his relationship with Ms Marney began.

"No, this is not true," she said, "because as far as I understand, he met with this woman on December 16th, he came to see us in Vienna on December 18th, [and then] on the 19th had a wonderful time at his youngest daughter's party.

"Only after did things get worse...I could see that my husband was not the way he would normally be.

"The reality, as I understand now, is he was probably in touch with this woman."

"When he gave one of the interviews in which he was asked about his leadership, he said proudly that he had sacrificed his family for politics.

"Then a couple of days later he said he's happy to have lost politics for this woman...it's shocking."

Mr Bolton claimed he had broken up with Ms Marney in the run-up to the vote on his leadership but when quizzed by LBC presenter Nick Ferrari if they were “ever not together”, Mr Bolton responded with “no”.

He admitted he had “told fibs” saying: “I think, Nick, I was playing words a little bit.”

The Standard approached Mr Bolton and Ms Marney for further comment.

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