Under Farage, who tapped into a powerful anti-establishment mood among voters, the party won the European Parliament elections in Britain in 2014 and played a leading role in persuading Britons to vote to leave the EU.
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Britain’s Nigel Farage has insisted he kept his underpants on during a late-night swim to celebrate his final conference as Ukip leader.
New Ukip leader Diane James put on a show of unity with the party’s only MP Douglas Carswell today just hours after Nigel Farage accused him of trying to destroy the party. ‘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.
She is the first woman to lead the party and a close ally of Mr Farage.
Ms James had been urged to find a way to reunite the party after months of bitter divisions among its most senior figures.
She warned Ukip MEPs will continue “being the thorn” in the side of the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker. “They voted to control our borders”, she told the delegates to UKIP’s annual conference, referring to Britain’s Brexit referendum on June 23.
“It’s not going to be change because I ought to change it when I can’t justify it, it’s going ot be because change is necessary and justified and the caveat and what is behind that will be to provide and make sure we have a winning political machine under my leadership”.
However, Diane James has pledged to be honest and “uphold all the beliefs and values that this party stands for”.
UKIP supporters at the conference were enthusiastic about the news that James had won the race.
Mrs James fought off competition from her nearest rival, Cambridgeshire District councillor, Lisa Duffy (4591 votes) as well as Bill Etheridge (2052 votes), Phillip Broughton (1545 votes) and Elizabeth Jones (1203 votes).
Mr Carswell said he supported Ms James 110% and described her victory speech as “wonderful”.
In the 2015 general election, Ukip was the third-ranking party in terms of votes but, with the first-past-the post system, it got only one MP elected.
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 US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign.
The ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) said all candidates must have been a member of the party for at least five years.
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The leadership campaign was thrown into turmoil as soon as it began, with the previous favorite candidate, Steven Woolfe, disqualified for submitting his candidacy 17 minutes after the deadline, citing computer problems.
