Henry Bolton is clinging on as Ukip leader despite a vote of no confidence from his party’s ruling committee in the aftermath of the controversy over racist comments made by his now ex-girlfriend about Meghan Markle.
The former soldier made public his determination to fight on in a statement made from a Folkestone hotel’s car park, capping off a farcical day for the embattled ’Kipper.
Here are five amazing moments from Monday alone:
1. Bolton’s called a “a cock-led conceited ass” by a colleague.
On Sunday, members of the party’s National Executive Committee - its ruling body - held a vote of no confidence in Bolton’s leadership.
He was, however, given the chance to step down and have the vote effectively wiped from the record in order to spare his blushes.
After considering the offer for around 20 minutes, Bolton decided to fight on.
“The man’s a cock-led conceited ass,” a senior source with intimate knowledge of the meeting told HuffPost UK today. With friends like these ...
2. Ukip frontbenchers who you’ve never heard of desert him.
Bolton was faced with a wave of resignations from his frontbench in what appeared to be a co-ordinated effort to oust him.
Political journalists spent much of the day marking off who was the latest to fall, with 16 and counting quitting their posts.
So who would take over?
And if you hadn’t heard of the major players here, don’t worry. Many names appeared familiar from another context.
Some were even making up their own Ukip spokespeople.
While the irony of members of a Brexit-backing party having a change of heart was not lost on prominent Remain supporters.
3. He channels Donald Trump by promising to ‘drain the swamp’, also echoing his ex-girlfriend.
In an attempt to tap into the vogue for populism, Bolton’s statement where he made clear he was not quitting was something of an ode to Donald Trump.
He declared: “It is now time to put an end to the factional in-fighting within the party and to remove those who have been a part of that. In a single phrase, it is time to ‘Drain the Swamp’.”
At least, that’s apparently what he said. It was hard to tell when he was initially around 20 yards away from the microphones.
And where did he get the ‘drain the swamp’ motif?
Ahh, Jo Marney, his 25-year-old ex-girlfriend has tweeted similar ...
4. Holed up in provincial hotel, Bolton goes full Alan Partridge.
Bolton has been living in a hotel in Folkestone on the east coast after splitting from his wife while hoping his political career can survive.
Alan Partridge was living in the Linton Travel Tavern, equidistant between London and Norwich, after splitting from his wife while hoping his television career could survive.
5. Being interviewed by Farage, who once called him a “real man of substance”.
The Ukip leader’s first one-on-one interview today will be with, er, ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who seems to have the measure of the man - at lest based on this tweet after Bolton’s election.
During the interview, Bolton said the romantic side of relationship with Marney is “off ... certainly at the moment”, adding: “Who knows what the future holds.”
Farage, who is divorced from his first wife, separated from his second and has witnessed alleged affairs splashed in tabloid newspapers, replied it’s getting “a little bit cringe-making”.