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| Diane James quits Ukip: Former leader announces she has left party | Diane James quits Ukip: Former leader announces she has left party |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Former leader Diane James has left Ukip, saying her "relationship with the party has been increasingly difficult". | |
| Ms James resigned in October after only 18 days after being elected head of the party, saying she did not "have sufficient authority, nor the full support" to continue. | |
| Infighting has plagued Ukip since Nigel Farage stood down as leader, with one high-profile dispute involving leadership hopeful Steven Woolfe culminating in him quitting. | |
| Ms James will now sit as an Independent MEP. | |
| In a statement, Ms James said the president of the European parliament, Martin Shultz, had accepted her request to stand as an Independent. | |
| "At a high profile public event in Cambridge last week, I was asked why I had not completed the process to become leader of Ukip? I had little option, but to give the truthful response that, although nominated leader by popular vote in the membership, I found that I had no support within the executive and thus no ability to carry forward the policies on which I had campaigned. | |
| "My decision to retire from the election process and not complete it was very difficult personally and professionally, given that Ukip has dominated my life and all my efforts for over five years. | |
| "In recent weeks, my relationship with the party has been increasingly difficult and I feel it is now time to move on." | |
| More follows... | More follows... |