Britain’s populist right-wing UKIP party on Friday (16 September) had its first female leader, as Diane James was elected to replace Nigel Farage.
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The following year, she was elected as MEP for South East England – a position she remains in today.
“I don’t have the same national profile as Diane, she is in the media and on the television an bad lot and a big part of any election is the recognition factor”.
“Until we get a signature, we’re still in, they still tell us what to do”, she told party members.
Mr Farage said “some quite big surgery” was needed to get Ukip back into shape.
“We’ve only just won a heat, a heat in a 28 member states Olympics competition to leave the European Union”.
In a speech before James’ election, he said he would “advise” the new leader and remain himself Ukip’s leader in the European Parliament. James told us she was “hoping” for a turnout closer to 25,000.
“Without us, there would have been no referendum, without you and the people’s army there would have been no ground campaign”, said Farage, who has campaigned for a British exit from the European Union since the early 1990s.
An ally of Farage defected to the Conservatives on the eve of the conference, saying that Prime Minister Theresa May had delivered key elements of the UKIP manifesto since taking office in July and that droves of UKIP supporters were doing the same.
“Invoke article 50 and give Ukip the best Christmas present”, James said. “I will never ever pretend to be so”, she said.
Ms James had been urged to find a way to reunite the party after months of spats and infighting among its most high-profile members.
Commentators say UKIP has become so synonymous with Farage, who first led the party from 2006 until and 2009 then took over the reins again the following year, that his departure leaves a huge gap which will be hard to fill.
Drawing comparisons with former Conservative leader David Cameron, who this week announced he was throwing in the towel and leaving the House of Commons, Farage insisted he was staying in the political arena despite having “done my bit” for UKIP.
The face of Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom for almost two decades, he helped turn UKIP from a fringe party into the third biggest in United Kingdom politics – in terms of votes at the 2015 general election.
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The contenders are former Hartlepool parliamentary candidate Philip Broughton, Cambridgeshire town and district councillor Lisa Duffy, MEP for the West Midlands and Dudley councillor Bill Etheridge, former businesswomen and healthcare professional Diane James and deputy chair of UKIP’s London Lambeth branch Elizabeth Jones.
