UKIP leader standing down after just 18 days

Andy_Ross

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Andy_Ross
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UKIP leader Diane James is standing down from the role 18 days after she was elected.
In a statement to the Times newspaper, the MEP said she would not be "formalising my recent nomination".

The 56-year-old MEP for South East England said she did not have "sufficient authority" to see through changes which she had planned.

Ms James succeeded Nigel Farage on 16 September after he quit in the wake of the UK's vote to leave the EU.

UKIP chairman Paul Oakden said: "I will now look to convene an emergency meeting of our national executive committee to confirm the process for electing Diane's replacement.

"Whilst the decision is unfortunate, it is one that Diane is entitled to make. We thank her for all her work as leader, and as a hard-working MEP, a role she will continue with her customary vigour."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37558485
 
Any bets on her successor?

I bet that Farage will come back as party leader, his current denial notwithstanding.
 
Farage is back in charge for now and migration spokesman Steven Woolfe and Nigel Farage's ex-adviser Raheem Kassam have declared they will stand as candidates.
 
Her speech at the conference seems to suggest she wants to turn the Tories in to a combination of the Lib Dems and Labour and take them to the middle ground. They will be the party of the workers and the NHS and will fight big business, the wealthy and 'vested interests'.
I wonder what the party members and MPs think of it all.
 
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Source

UKIP leadership hopeful Steven Woolfe was taken to hospital following an altercation at a meeting of party MEPs, interim leader Nigel Farage has said.

In a statement he said Mr Woolfe had "subsequently collapsed" and his "condition is serious".

Mr Woolfe, MEP for the North West, was taken to hospital in Strasbourg for tests.
Mr Woolfe announced on Wednesday he will stand for the party's leadership after Diane James stepped down.

In his statement, Mr Farage said: "I deeply regret that following an altercation that took place at a meeting of UKIP MEPs this morning that Steven Woolfe subsequently collapsed and was taken to hospital. His condition is serious."
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Okay, this is... weird.
 
UKIP sources said "a rumbustious argument" had taken place at the MEPs' meeting at the European Parliament over whether Mr Woolfe had been talking to the Conservative Party.

"Even the possibility of him talking to the Tory Party some saw as a betrayal and some MEPs were very angry," the sources said.

The BBC was told Mr Woolfe went outside with another MEP where "punches were exchanged".

"It is believed that Steven banged his head against a structure - a window or a wall - but he got up," the sources said.

Following a vote two hours later "he collapsed" and doctors were called and his wife was contacted.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37572377
 
Edited: I was asking who he was fighting with, but I've seen a name myself now.
 
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Archie Gemmill Goal said:
To be honest punching a ukip in the face is understandable.
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Are you out to prove Farage right?

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Farage: “The SNP are openly racist. The anti-English hostility and the kind of language that is used about and towards English people is totally extraordinary.”

Mr Farage pointed to his treatment on a campaigning visit to Edinburgh last year when he was locked into a pub by the police for his own protection before being rescued after being surrounded by SNP supporters.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/pol...st-towards-the-English-says-Nigel-Farage.html

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Giz said:
Are you out to prove Farage right?

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Farage: “The SNP are openly racist. The anti-English hostility and the kind of language that is used about and towards English people is totally extraordinary.”
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To be fair, there's not necessarily a correlation between being Scottish and being not exactly averse to the idea of punching a UKIP MEP in the face; a lot of the English feel that way too.

Dave

ETA: And, clearly, the occasional UKIP MEP too.
 
At a distance (in the USA) I have formed an admittedly stereotypic impression of UKIP as a bit like the Nazi Brownshirts- a brawling, rough, nasty, racist, group that obtains much of its support through xenophobia and the goal of "making Britain British again." The news that a meeting of the leaders of UKIP resulted in punches and serious physical injury among themselves obviously tends to confirm that stereotype. Is anyone who knows more willing to educate me and counter that stereotype? Or is it fairly accurate?
 
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