The leader of Ukip’s Welsh Assembly group, who Mr Farage has been fiercely critical of, was replaced by a 10-minute coffee break and a five-minute speech by Nathan Gill, the man he ousted.
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Ms James won the leadership election with 8,451 votes from UKIP members, according to results announced at the party’s annual conference in the southern English seaside town of Bournemouth.
But in another speech highlighting internal tensions in the party, outgoing deputy leader Paul Nuttall said that “Ukip has not been a happy camp for over a year”, and spoke of “a cancer in the heart of the party”.
This made Ms James an unlikely favourite, winning the support of Mr Farage and the party’s moneybags, Arron Banks, who helped fund her campaign.
Before the election, party insiders also claimed she had the tacit backing of Farage.
Her appointment comes as the party struggles to remain relevant in the wake of June’s vote for Brexit, with party sources confirming Ukip is fast losing support to the Conservatives. “But I will also, for the first time in years, have a bit of a life as well”.
He said he thought a few people would now be questioning their positions within the party and that if people disagreed with the direction Mrs James was taking the party, they could leave.
“I admire him from the point of view that he’s standing up for his country”, she said.
In a warning to those she called the “remainiacs”, James then warned that “threats to the referendum outcome are increasing by the day”, and wants to work against a “Brexit light” scenario.
As one of four UK Independence Party members of the European Parliament for south east England, she took over the reigns from departing leader Nigel Farage.
“It is not going to be change for change’s sake, it is not going to be change because I think I want to change it and I can’t justify it”.
He failed to become an MP and was reinstalled as Ukip leader.
She said she was “not Nigel-lite” and would not pretend to be so but would be “stepping into his leadership shoes” to try to continue his political success.
“I hope to be engaged in political life without leading a political party”, he said, adding that he would be less constrained.
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.
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“At midnight it seemed an amazingly good idea to me to go for a swim, so I did!”
