She said her focus would be on party policies for the next general election, whenever it might be, describing Ukip as the “opposition party in waiting”.
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Commentators say the UKIP has become so synonymous with Mr 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 that will be hard to fill.
Farage announced his resignation after Britain’s June 23 referendum on European Union membership the second time he’s quit as party leader.
The leader of Ukip’s Welsh group, who Mr Farage has been fiercely critical of, has been replaced by a ten minute coffee break and a five minute speech by Nathan Gill, the man he ousted.
In the running along with Diane James, who recently remarked she would not be “Nigel-like or Nigel-lite” if elected, are Ramsey councilor Lisa Duffy, West Midlands MEP Bill Etheridge, Elizabeth Jones and Philip Broughton.
She switched to UKIP in 2011 and shot to national prominence in 2013 when she fought the parliamentary by-election in Eastleigh, Hampshire, resulting from the downfall of Cabinet minister Chris Huhne, who was jailed for lying about a speeding offence.
Mr Farage said earlier he was “not going away” but would “support the new leader”.
Once a Conservative supporter, she distanced herself from the party and became an independent councillor in 2007, before joining UKIP.
But Hamilton has said he refuses to “go away” and said it seems a “rather weird way to unite a party”. For the final acid test, which he drew out his passport from his jacket pocket to deliver, Farage said: The only time we will really know. that Brexit means Brexit is when that has been put in the bin and we get back a British passport.
The Euro-skeptic party had “moved mountains on the political landscape” and emerged as the “change movement of the United Kingdom”, the Guardian quoted her as saying.
She added: “I think Nigel eventually just threw his hands up and said ‘what’s the point?'”.
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.
ITV News reported that his slot had been given to his arch-rival Nathan Gill, the party’s overall leader in Wales.
The candidates represented the two warring factions within Ukip, the so called “Faragists” and those critical of the former leader.
The party has also seen a number of high-profile defections to the Conservatives, including former party head of media Alexandra Phillips.
Ms James said the Brexit vote had shown what a potent political force UKIP is, adding: “We are going to confound our critics, we are going to outwit our opponents, we are going to build on our election success that we have achieved to date and do more”.
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He said Ukip has “changed the centre of gravity in British politics” and that many of their policies, such as grammar schools, have been taken up.
