UKIP’s most famous face also used the hours ahead of the party’s new leadership announcement to reiterate that while he will be supporting the victor of the race, he is “not going away”.
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Diane James, an MEP and ally of Nigel Farage, has been elected as the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP) ‘s new leader.
She said Brexit represented “winning a heat” in her acceptance speech, with much of the fight still to come with the United Kingdom still having not triggered Article 50.
“I don’t have the same national profile as Diane, she is in the media and on the television an very bad lot and a big part of any election is the recognition factor”.
The party’s deputy chairwoman and home affairs spokeswoman refused to set out any policies during the leadership contest, insisting she wants to “refresh and review” the party’s 2015 general election manifesto in her first 100 days as leader and “professionalise” the party.
“Don’t ignore it, remainacs”, she said.
The MEP, who was the frontrunner in the contest, took the top job with 8,451 votes.
With Brexit on the horizon, UKIP can not survive unless it broadens its platform beyond Europe, even though Diane James based her leadership campaign on this topic. There have even been suggestions that she would essentially act as interim leader, keeping the seat warm for either Farage of Woolfe, either of whom could make a comeback, depending on the Brexit deal.
Lisa Duffy, Bill Etheridge, Elizabeth Jones and Phillip Broughton are all also hoping to take the leadership.
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.
Volunteers on the party’s ruling National Executive Committee had decided that Mr Hamilton was “great fun, therefore would be a great candidate”, Mr Farage said, adding that he had no power to stop it.
Mr Hamilton, who only found out about the so-called purge after being told by reporters, said it was a “rather freakish way” to unite a party.
She is close to Farage, who announced today that he still intends to work within UKIP in Brussels and who has appeared on stage with Trump.
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. I said four years ago UKIP would cause an quake.
James promised to make UKIP push the government to achieve a “true, 100% European Union exit” amid rumours of the possibility of a so-called “Brexit light” deal with the bloc.
Outgoing leader Farage thanked the party delegates at the conference for their support. “But I will also, for the first time in years, have a bit of a life as well”, he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
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“The UK signature is not dry yet and we are still in the European Union”. She said: “It’s going to take me a while to come back to Earth”.
