On Friday UKIP announces the victor of a leadership contest to replace Nigel Farage, the charismatic but divisive politician who took the party’s once-fringe anti-EU views into the mainstream.
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In her pitch to succeed Mr Farage, who has led the party for nearly all of the past nine years, Ms James pledged to bring a “different” leadership style to UKIP, saying she would harness the “scale of depth of talent” among the party’s membership, local representatives and MEPs.
Ms James, 56, was elected to the European Parliament as an MEP for South-East England in 2014, as part of the political “earthquake” achieved as UKIP became the first non-mainstream party in modern times to win a national election in the UK.
The contest was sparked by Mr Farage’s resignation following the June referendum vote for Britain to leave the European Union.
She said her leadership would focus on ensuring Brexit was delivered.
“What I want to see happen politically in Britain, UKIP are no longer the party that is going to do that”, Phillips said.
Outgoing deputy leader Paul Nuttall said he fears “for the very future of our party” unless the in-fighting that has racked the organisation is resolved.
He added: “If I was her PR advisor it’s not a decision I would have taken, put it that way”. ‘I literally couldn’t have worked any harder, or couldn’t have been more determined – it’s been my life’s work to get to this point.
After the referendum result, Farage said he would step down as leader, and has since lent his experience of leading a popular political uprising to USA presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign.
The ballots were closed Thursday.
The party gained notoriety in the last four years as anti-Europe sentiment crept in to the UK’s political atmosphere, and the culmination was the Leave vote which triumphed in the historic referendum.
Sketching out her style of leadership, Ms James said her language “might be a little different” and that “unlike Nigel I may not be able to be as frank as I want to be”.
However, James has also voted against LGBTI rights measures in the European Parliament and previously defended homophobic politicians within the party.
As the clear favourite, other candidates would potentially have ganged up on her and she was criticised by some for claiming there was “no need to debate with my rivals”.
She accused the Conservative Party of stealing many of UKIP’s policies and branded the Prime Minister “Magpie May”.
“I will be actively engaged in politics”. The new Conservative government, under the leadership of Theresa May, appears to be offering much of what drew voters to UKIP in the first place.
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In total, 17,970 votes were cast in the contest. UKIP has not been a happy camp for over a year, and the animosity has spilt over into the media.
