Diane James is the new leader of UKIP.
She was announced today at the party conference in Bournemouth.
Congratulations @DianeJamesMEP on being elected the new leader of #UKIP #UKIPConf pic.twitter.com/RDUyOyx9Zh
— UKIP (@UKIP) September 16, 2016
Diane James has been elected as the new leader of @UKIP following on from Nigel Farage https://t.co/aPdjh2VcTl
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) September 16, 2016
In an address to party members, she hailed the “talent and enthusiasm” in the party, which she dubbed “the political change movement in the United Kingdom”.
James was formerly deputy chairman of the party, and has been an MEP for South-East England since 2014.
It followed a farewell speech from Nigel Farage in which he said he can now “really speak his mind”:
.@Nigel_Farage closes his final speech as UKIP leader: "from now on, I'm really going to speak my mind" https://t.co/TzgOOCp3hK
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 16, 2016
Many were quick to observe that James’s election means that UKIP has managed to beat the Labour and Lib Dem parties to choosing a woman as its leader, making it, by one measure at least, more progressive than Britain’s political Left.
Parties who have ever had women leaders: Tory, Ukip, Greens, SNP
Parties who haven't: Labour, Lib Dems https://t.co/hLd8qql3jH— James Ball (@jamesrbuk) September 16, 2016
It came after a controversial leadership contest which saw frontrunner and Heat Street columnist Steven Woolfe kicked out of the contest over an admin issue.
17,970 votes were cast between five candidates – James won around half of them.
The results in full:
1st Diane James
2nd Lisa Duffy
3rd Bill Etheridge
4th Philip Broughton
5th Elizabeth Jones
