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Ukip elects Diane James as new party leader Ukip elects Diane James as new party leader
(about 2 hours later)
Ukip has elected Diane James as its first female leader, amid signs that Nigel Farage will continue to exert a strong influence over the party. Ukip has chosen its first female leader, Diane James, who immediately signalled she wanted Nigel Farage to remain at the heart of the party and moved to sideline some of his critics.
The former businesswoman won the contest with 47% of the vote and the backing of key allies of Farage, including the major donor Arron Banks. The former businesswoman won the contest with almost half of the vote and the backing of some key Farage allies, including party donor Arron Banks.
Her election means six of the political parties represented at Westminster are led by women, with Theresa May at the helm of the Tories, Nicola Sturgeon leading the SNP, Caroline Lucas co-leader of the Greens, Leanne Woods in charge of Plaid Cymru and Arlene Foster heading the Democratic Unionist party. The Liberal Democrats and Labour have never had a female leader. Her election at the Ukip autumn conference means six of the political parties represented at Westminster are now led by women. James is already facing calls from some Ukip colleagues to unify the party after months of bitter infighting over Farage’s influence and strategy.
James, 56, rose to prominence in Ukip after coming second in the Eastleigh byelection of 2013, before taking on roles as home affairs spokesperson and deputy chairman. Paul Nuttall, the outgoing deputy leader, said the feuding was a “cancer” eating at the heart of Ukip and called on Farage to step away. But James made it clear that she wanted Farage by her side and she was happy for him to stay on as leader of the party in Brussels, which gives him influence over EU strategy and funding.
As the result was announced at the party’s conference in Bournemouth, she wasted no time in delivering a message to the prime minister that Ukip intends to push for a “hard Brexit”. “I think both Nigel and I made it very, very plain that there would be help running between us. The legacy he has bequeathed with this party, the experience, the knowledge, I would be nuts to ignore it. But he is not going to be a backseat driver.”Asked if she would step down if Farage decided he wanted to return as leader, James did not rule out that possibility.
“He made it abundantly clear he doesn’t intend coming back. He has left that door open, I totally appreciate that. But he was clear with his language today he is stepping away from the leadership rule and handing that mantle to myself.”She went on to defend Farage’s controversial “breaking point” poster during the referendum showing a queue of migrants across Europe.
“If people don’t want a reality check about the problems with Merkel’s open door migration policy, people in those volumes on those roads, then quite frankly they need a big big pinch. That picture was absolutely accurate in what it shows and I’ve got no problem with it at all,” she said.
James also signalled she was not intending to take a conciliatory approach towards dissenters in the party.
One of her first acts as leader was to tear up the conference agenda in order to remove her rival leadership candidates and Neil Hamilton, the leader of Ukip on the Welsh assembly, from speaking slots on the main stage.
The move immediately triggered a row, with Hamilton, a former Tory minister, informed by the press in a corridor that he had been replaced by Nathan Gill, an MEP, with whom he has been having an acrimonious public battle for control of the party in Wales. “This is a rather bizarre change in the programme,” Hamilton said. “It seems a rather bizarre way to unite a party,” he said, before offering to go and find James for a joint press conference.
“I seem to have been replaced by 10 minutes of coffee and five minutes of Nathan Gill. It looks like I’m no longer on the agenda. But I’m still the Ukip member of the assembly in Wales.”
Jay Beecher, campaign manager for one of the losing candidates, Lisa Duffy, said James’s rivals should have been given a chance to speak and thank their supporters in person. “We accept the membership decision,” he said. “However, what we need is a leader who is going to promote unity. For us to be a successful party we have to come together. It’s a bit of a slap in the face and a bit discourteous.”
But James defended the move, saying: “That is exactly what the new leader is able to do. It’s my prerogative. I chose to change the programme. It’s not a purge.”
She was backed by Steven Woolfe, who told the Guardian: “As a leader, she should be entitled to look at the agenda of a conference like this and put her stamp on it straight away.”
Another problem in James’s inbox is what to do about Douglas Carswell, Ukip’s only MP, who was attacked by Farage on Friday for “doing nothing” for the party.
At a press conference, James revealed she had not spoken to Carswell for around three months, including the whole period of the leadership contest.
“If Douglas would like to suggest a meeting, I will happily entertain it,” James said, saying it depended on their schedules but meeting those in, and seeking elected, office was a priority.
She also suggested she would try to stand in upcoming by elections, suggesting she could make an attempt in David Cameron’s former constituency of Witney in Oxfordshire.
James rose to prominence in Ukip after coming second in the Eastleigh byelection of 2013, before taking on roles as home affairs spokesperson and deputy chairman.
As the first Ukip leader since the EU referendum, she now faces a battle to keep the party relevant given Theresa May’s promise to take the UK out of the EU and bring back grammar schools.
James wasted no time in delivering a message to the prime minister that Ukip intends to put her under pressure by pushing for a “hard Brexit”.
“From one grammar school girl to another, stop the faff, stop the fudge and the farce. Get on with it. Invoke article 50 and give Ukip the best Christmas present,” she said.“From one grammar school girl to another, stop the faff, stop the fudge and the farce. Get on with it. Invoke article 50 and give Ukip the best Christmas present,” she said.
James threw her hat into the ring after Farage stepped down as Ukip leader following the EU referendum, saying he had “done his bit” for the party.
However, he announced on Friday that he would still be continuing as leader of Ukip’s group in Brussels. His continued involvement appears to have the blessing of James, who said she was delighted to have a former leader who “still wants to be beside me as your next leader and a stalwart supporter of Brexit”.
She punched the air as she made her way to the stage, where she posed with Farage before starting her acceptance speech. “You did it,” James said, referring to delegates and the referendum result, adding: “I did it.”
She said she was honoured to “take it on from Nigel”. Farage promised not “to meddle or influence” his successor, but his decision to stick around will dismay those in Ukip who believe he needs to go to allow the party to heal, after a year of bitter public feuds.
James said the party would need to change to become a “winning machine” under her leadership. One of her first jobs will be to unite various factions, including Farage loyalists, a circle around the former Conservative cabinet minister Neil Hamilton, and people close to Douglas Carswell, the party’s only MP.
She faces a struggle to keep Ukip relevant after May promised to carry out the Brexit vote and bring in new grammar schools – two major Ukip policies.
Speaking after the result, James claimed that “threats to the Brexit result are increasing every day”. She listed Ukip’s demands as: “No to soft Brexit. No to single market controls and no to unrestricted freedom of movement into this country. If they come in, they come in on a fair basis.”Speaking after the result, James claimed that “threats to the Brexit result are increasing every day”. She listed Ukip’s demands as: “No to soft Brexit. No to single market controls and no to unrestricted freedom of movement into this country. If they come in, they come in on a fair basis.”
Farage warned May that she must pass three tests to make sure “Brexit means Brexit”: regaining control of fishing rights, getting out of the single market and returning to the old British passport.Farage warned May that she must pass three tests to make sure “Brexit means Brexit”: regaining control of fishing rights, getting out of the single market and returning to the old British passport.
Concerns that Farage intends to remain a backseat driver were evident from the conference main stage. In particular, the former Ukip leader is pushing for reform of the national executive committee, which has recently been hostile to his leadership.
Paul Nuttall, the outgoing deputy leader, said Farage should step back and resist the temptation to interfere. He issued a plea for the party to stop its internal battles, saying the fighting was a “cancer” eating away at the party and likening it to “a jigsaw that has been emptied on to the floor”.