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Nigel Farage bows out as Ukip leader

She was elected in 2014 to serve as an MEP for the South East England region in the European Parliament.

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“It’s no good for Ukip, and I don’t think looking at him, and he doesn’t look very happy, I can’t believe it’s very good for him either”.

“I don’t have the same national profile as Diane, she is in the media and on the television an terrible lot and a big part of any election is the recognition factor”.

James, a former business analyst and the party’s deputy chairwoman, said she would work to ensure that the Conservative government did not negotiate a soft Brexit.

He even offered to confront Ms James live on camera, saying: “Let’s go and see her now!”

Before the announcement, Farage said he was bowing out as leader because after getting his “country back” – referring to the Brexit vote – he wanted his life back.

Splits between various factions, and over the Brexit referendum, had “created a cancer in the heart of the party and led to its leading lights using Ukip as a football”, Nuttall said.

Diane James is the new leader of Ukip – the first woman in the role.

Mr Farage was given a hero’s welcome as he spoke at his final Ukip conference as leader.

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.

However, she admitted shortly afterwards that she had not spoken to the party’s sole MP, Douglas Carswell, for three months.

He also helped persuade more than 17 million people to vote to leave the EU.

In a speech at the Bournemouth International Centre, he called the European Union referendum result a “fairytale” and promised UKIP would continue to have a huge impact on United Kingdom politics.

Farage today told activists that victory in June’s election mean they “had won the war, but now we have to win the peace”.

The anti-immigration party won 12.6% of the vote in the 2015 general election, though it only has one MP to show for it under Britain’s first-past-the-post system.

She has promised to bring a new style of leadership to UKIP – harnessing the ability of members – but doubters fear the party will suffer after its rise in popularity was so closely linked to the personality of Mr Farage.

When Britain voted to leave the European Union, it was a triumph for the U.K. Independence Party.

Nevertheless, UKIP remains a potent force in British politics.

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Speaking directly to prime minister Theresa May in her speech, she said: “If you’re watching TV this afternoon, you’ll be watching the opposition party in waiting”. ‘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.

Diane James and Douglas Carswell put on a show of public unity today at the end of a conference dominated by debate over factional infighting