- Title: UKIP elect new leader to replace Brexit firebrand Farage
- Date: 28th November 2016
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (NOVEMBER 28, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF UKIP LEADERSHIP CANDIDATE, PAUL NUTTALL, ARRIVING AHEAD OF THE LEADERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT, SURROUNDED BY MEDIA UKIP LEADERSHIP CANDIDATE, SUZANNE EVANS, ARRIVING AHEAD OF THE LEADERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT, SURROUNDED BY MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKIP LEADERSHIP CANDIDATE, SUZANNE EVANS, SAYING: "It's great to be here. Feeling very optimistic. I think if I win or Paul wins it really doesn't matter, the party's got a great future." EVANS WALKING INTO BUILDING SURROUNDED BY MEDIA INSIDE HALL "UKIP LEADERSHIP" SIGN VARIOUS OF UKIP CARETAKER LEADER, NIGEL FARAGE, WALKING INTO ROOM SURROUNDED BY CAMERAS AND BEING APPLAUDED FARAGE GETTING UP ONTO STAGE DELEGATES APPLAUDING FARAGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKIP CARETAKER LEADER, NIGEL FARAGE, SAYING: "I've got a certain deja vu feeling about this morning." FARAGE AT PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKIP CARETAKER LEADER, NIGEL FARAGE, SAYING: "Over the years you would think generally, you know, if New York catches a cold then London sneezes. But in this particular, amazing, transformative and indeed in many ways revolutionary year of 2016, it is Brexit that directly led to the establishment getting beaten on the 8th of November and Donald J Trump about to take the presidency. We were the inspiration behind much of that and I am pleased for it. (APPLAUSE) And across the rest of Europe too. Be in no doubt that it is UKIP that is seen as the leading eurosceptic group across the entire continent." FARAGE SPEAKING ON STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKIP CARETAKER LEADER, NIGEL FARAGE SAYING: "And this week I am going off to the United States of America but you will understand purely as a tourist, nothing more than that. (APPLAUSE) I don't regret for one minute that I have devoted most of the best years of my adult life to building up this party and to fighting for this cause." DELEGATES APPLAUDING VARIOUS OF FARAGE HOLDING UP ELECTORAL COMMISSION SIGNING FORM THAT HE HAS TO SIGN TO QUIT AS LEADER AND NEW LEADER MUST SIGN DELEGATES APPLAUDING (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKIP CHAIRMAN, PAUL OAKDEN, SAYING: "The successful candidate and new leader of the UK Independence Party with 9,622 votes, 62.6 per cent of the vote - Paul Nuttall." VARIOUS OF NEWLY-ELECTED LEADER, PAUL NUTTALL, SURROUNDED BY CAMERAS AND WALKING ONTO STAGE VARIOUS OF NUTTALL AND FARAGE EMBRACING AND POSING FOR PHOTOS VARIOUS OF NUTTALL SPEAKING AT PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEWLY-ELECTED UKIP LEADER, PAUL NUTTALL, SAYING: "Today is the day is that we start to put the UKIP jigsaw back together. It is day zero. It is a new beginning. And that means not only paying lip service to my call for unity but it means practising what we preach, it means all factions of the party coming together. It means bygones being bygones." NUTTALL SPEAKING AT PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEWLY-ELECTED UKIP LEADER, PAUL NUTTALL, SAYING: "We will hold the government's feet to the fire electorally and ensure Brexit really does mean Brexit." (APPLAUSE) DELEGATES STANDING UP AND APPLAUDING NUTTALL LEAVING PODIUM / FARAGE STANDING UP AND DEPARTING FROM AUDIENCE SEATS AS ASKED IF THIS WAS THE RIGHT RESULT (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKIP CARETAKER LEADER, NIGEL FARAGE, SAYING: "Oh god yes. Absolutely. REPORTER ASKING: "Has Paul Nuttall got what it takes?" "Yeah I really do genuinely believe that he has. We've had five very difficult months, whenever I announced I was going to be standing down it was going to be difficult and goodness knows the other things that have been happening, a leader comes a leader goes, we have had five months of a bit of a vacuum and I sense with this result and with that speech, that is now over." UKIP SIGN FARAGE WALKING OUT OF ROOM, SURROUNDED BY MEDIA DECLARING HE WILL NOT BE LEADER OF UKIP AGAIN (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIR OF UKIP IN NORTWEST ENGLAND, JAMES BARKER, SAYING: "Well, I think as Nigel and Paul have said, even through these difficult times that we've had in the last few months, we have still held at 13 percent. So our vote is still strong. Just imagine when we unite and get the show on the road as we will do." (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIR OF THE NORTH LONDON BRANCH OF UKIP, MAXINE SPENCER, SAYING: "Oh yeah, that is going to be hard. I mean there is only one Nigel Farage, you know he's been there such a long time and he is so charismatic and you know, Nigel is UKIP. He is the face of UKIP, he always has been, so yes, he is going to struggle I think with that, but I think he will come into his own because Paul is a very strong character as well. He is a bit quieter, but I think he'll come through fine." DELEGATES CHATTING AT END OF EVENT
- Embargoed: 13th December 2016 15:42
- Keywords: UKIP Faraage leadership Paul Nuttall
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA0015AD0AX3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Britain's anti-European Union UK Independence Party elected its former chairman Paul Nuttall as its new leader on Monday (November 28), as it seeks to overcome months of internal turmoil and capitalise on its successful Brexit campaign.
Nuttall, an elected member of the European parliament since 2009, will take over from UKIP's talismanic former leader Nigel Farage, who stood down in June after achieving his decades-long ambition of seeing Britain vote to leave the EU.
While Farage has gone on to become a high-profile ally of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump since the June referendum, UKIP has struggled to build on the anti-establishment sentiment it harnessed during the EU referendum campaign.
Farage told delegates to wild applause as he addressed them before the new leader was announced, that Brexit was having a global impact.
"It is Brexit that directly led to the establishment getting beaten on the 8th of November and Donald J Trump about to take the presidency. We were the inspiration behind much of that and I am pleased for it. And across the rest of Europe too. Be in no doubt that it is UKIP that is seen as the leading eurosceptic group across the entire continent," he said.
Nuttall was elected with a big majority, 62.6 percent of the vote, compared with runner-up Suzanne Evans who got 19.3 percent.
Diane James, who was initially elected to replace Farage in September, stood down after just 18 days and eventually left the party. The frontrunner to succeed her, Steven Woolfe, quit the party after an altercation with a colleague left him in hospital.
In his acceptance speech, Nuttall appealed for unity.
"Today is the day is that we start to put the UKIP jigsaw back together. It is day zero. It is a new beginning. And that means not only paying lip service to my call for unity but it means practising what we preach," he said.
He pledged to ensure Britain does leave the EU and regains control over its borders.
"We will hold the government's feet to the fire electorally and ensure Brexit really does mean Brexit," he said.
UKIP members said they now look forward to putting the chaotic dramas of the party behind them, but acknowledged Nuttall has big shoes to fill. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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