THE leader of Bolton UKIP is on a mission to sort out the mess that has engulfed the organisation running the national party.

Little Lever and Darcy Lever Cllr Sean Hornby has announced that he will stand to become a member of UKIP’s National Executive Committee, which has been engulfed in accusations of bullying and in-fighting.

This culminated in the recent decision not to allow former leadership favourite Steven Woolfe to be on the ballot to replace Nigel Farage after he submitted his forms too late.

Cllr Hornby and Bolton UKIP are regularly being held up as a shining example of how UKIP can progress after the party achieved its primary aim of getting the country to vote to leave the European Union in June.

The Bolton branch has managed to get five seats on Bolton Council in the past two years and has become the town’s third party.

Mr Farage was a regular visitor to Bolton, including a cheeky trip inside the town hall and he praised Cllr Hornby and his team for showing the way to success for UKIP through local government elections.

Now Cllr Hornby wants to use that success as a platform for change at the top of UKIP – and he thinks he is the man to do it.

He said: “The NEC of UKIP needs to get its act together and get it together fast — there is far too much bullying and in-fighting going on.

Cllr Hornby added: “UKIP has a golden opportunity now to launch itself and prove we are a party for the people of our great country.

“Winning the Brexit vote was only the beginning and we need to stop this in-fighting and get on with it — Labour are about to split and the people are looking for an alternative.”

He added: “Bolton UKIP is the only party at local level making in-roads, gaining seats and winning popularity and I am not having the NEC wreck this.

“So I am putting my name forward to stand for the NEC as a member for common sense as I believe I am speaking for the majority and not the few.”