Diane James

Diane Martine James (born 20 November 1959) is a British politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 2014 to 2019. She was briefly leader-elect of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from September 2016 to October 2016, but resigned before formalising her leadership. At the time of her election to the European Parliament, James was one of three UKIP MEPs for South East England, before joining the Brexit Party in 2019.[3][4]

Diane James
James in 2014
Leader of the UK Independence Party
Designate
16 September 2016 – 4 October 2016
Preceded byNigel Farage
Succeeded byPaul Nuttall
Deputy Chair of the UK Independence Party
In office
24 February 2016 – 16 September 2016
LeaderNigel Farage
Preceded bySuzanne Evans
Succeeded bySuzanne Evans
UKIP Home Affairs and Justice Spokesperson
In office
21 July 2014 – 16 September 2016
LeaderNigel Farage
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byJane Collins
Member of the European Parliament
for South East England
In office
1 July 2014 – 1 July 2019[1][2]
Preceded bySharon Bowles
Succeeded byAlexandra Phillips
Personal details
Born (1959-11-20) 20 November 1959
Bedford, England
Political partyReform UK (formerly Brexit Party; since 2019)
Other political
affiliations		Independent (2007–2011; 2016–2019)
UK Independence Party (2011–2016)
Conservative (before 2007)
Alma materUniversity of West London
Websitedianejamesmep.com

James was born in Bedford in 1959, and was a councillor on Waverley Borough Council from 2007 until 2015, when she lost the seat to the Conservative Party.[5] She was elected to the European Parliament in 2014. Following the resignation of Nigel Farage, she was elected leader of UKIP in September 2016 as his successor. She resigned from the leadership of the party on 4 October 2016, 18 days after being elected. On 21 November 2016, James announced that she was leaving UKIP and would henceforth sit as an Independent.[6] The length of her tenure was met with significant public and press ridicule.[7]

Early life

James was born in Bedford in 1959, where her father was an engineer and her mother a housewife.[8] She was educated at Rochester Grammar School, Kent and Thames Valley University, Slough.[9][10] James spent three decades working in the health industry, where she established an international consultancy firm. She is fluent in both French and German.[8]

Political career

James was elected to Waverley Borough Council as an Independent, representing Ewhurst ward, after falling out with local Conservatives in 2007. She announced she was joining the UK Independence Party (UKIP) shortly after the 2011 local elections, but said that she would not stand down and fight a by-election. She lost her seat in 2015 after standing as the UKIP candidate in that year's elections. Her fellow UKIP councillors all lost their seats at the same time.

James came second in the 2013 Eastleigh by-election with 27.8% of the vote, an increase of 24.2% on the 2010 figure.[11] She was elected to the European Parliament in the 2014 election. James was the party's Home Affairs spokesperson, represented UKIP on the BBC's Question Time, and took part in debates at the Cambridge Union Society.

In December 2014, she was selected by UKIP in North West Hampshire to be its parliamentary candidate,[12] having been given a 1.2% chance of winning.[13] However, a few hours after making a speech at the 2015 UKIP Spring Conference in Margate, Kent, she stepped down from the Westminster candidacy "for personal reasons".[14]

UKIP leadership

Following the resignation of UKIP leader Nigel Farage, James stood in the election to succeed him in August 2016. She emerged as one of the frontrunners.[15][16] On 16 September she was announced as the new leader, having received 8,451 votes (46.2% of votes cast); she was the first woman to hold the post.[17][18]

On 4 October 2016, James confirmed that she would not be pursuing the leadership of the party despite winning the leadership election.[19] James issued a statement saying that she had decided not to become party leader, because "It has become clear that I do not have sufficient authority, nor the full support of all my MEP colleagues and party officers to implement changes I believe necessary and upon which I based my campaign."[20] Upon signing the document that notified the Electoral Commission of her election as UKIP leader, James added the Latin term vi coactus (under duress) after her signature. The Commission was unable to process the document due to her use of the words.[21]

She resigned her party membership on 21 November 2016, stating "it was time to move on" and that her relationship with UKIP had become "increasingly difficult", although she would continue to sit in the European Parliament as an Independent.[22]

Following her resignation, the leadership of UKIP passed back to Nigel Farage who was selected as the interim Party leader,[23] and another leadership election was held in November in which Paul Nuttall was elected as the new leader of UKIP.[24] Nuttall kept that position only six months.

Post-UKIP

In autumn 2016, she said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of her political heroes: "I admire him from the point of view that he's standing up for his country."[25][26]

On 8 April 2017, James stated she would consider standing for a seat in the British House of Commons as a Conservative at the next general election.[27] Ten days later Theresa May called a snap election held on 8 June,[28] in which James did not stand.

Remaining an MEP for the full 2014–2019 term, James joined the Brexit Party on 5 February 2019.[29] She left the European Parliament at the expiration of her term on 1 July, five weeks after the 2019 European Parliament election in which she did not seek to be re-elected.

References
  1. "Key dates ahead". European Parliament. 20 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  2. "Key dates ahead". BBC News. 22 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  3. "Diane James becomes UKIP leader". BBC News. 16 September 2016. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016.
  4. "South East – Vote 2014". BBC News. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
  5. "Ewhurst – Borough election results 2015". Waverley Borough Council. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  6. Mason, Rowena (21 November 2016). "Diane James quits Ukip, saying relations soured after she quit as leader". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 November 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  7. "Diane James has left Ukip – her replacement will be Labour's downfall". Independent.co.uk. 5 October 2016. Archived from the original on 25 October 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  8. "What Diane James' LinkedIn profile would look like". 17 September 2016. Archived from the original on 31 December 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  9. "Diane James – UKIP". Southern Daily Echo. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  10. Thompson, Owen (16 September 2016). "Why Ukip's new leader Diane James should terrify both Labour and the Tories". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  11. Watt, Nicholas; Wintour, Patrick; Morris, Steven (March 2013). "Cameron not for turning despite Eastleigh byelection failure, says Gove". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  12. "UKIP reveal Diane James to fight for Hampshire seat (From Andover Advertiser)". Archived from the original on 12 January 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  13. "Constituency List: England F-K". Electoralcalculus.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  14. "UKIP candidate Diane James drops out of election race". BBC News. 28 February 2015. Archived from the original on 13 September 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  15. Mason, Rowena (2 August 2016). "Diane James is new favourite to lead Ukip as candidate list is finalised". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 3 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  16. "UKIP leadership: The main contenders to succeed Nigel Farage". BBC News. 6 July 2016. Archived from the original on 17 July 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  17. "Diane James becomes UKIP leader". BBC News. 16 September 2016. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  18. Matthew Goodwin (16 September 2016). "To keep Ukip alive, Diane James must make herself Labour's worst nightmare". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  19. "UKIP leader Diane James standing down". BBC News. 4 October 2016. Archived from the original on 4 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  20. Wilkinson, Michael (4 October 2016). "Diane James quits as Ukip leader after just 18 days as Nigel Farage rules out a comeback". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  21. Milmo, Cahal (5 October 2016). "Diane James and the Latin phrase that confirmed her doubts". The i newspaper. Johnston Press. Archived from the original on 7 October 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  22. "Diane James, former UKIP leader, quits party". BBC News. 21 November 2016. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  23. "Nigel Farage steps back in at UKIP as Diane James quits". BBC News. BBC. 5 October 2016. Archived from the original on 1 February 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  24. Proctor, Kate (28 November 2016). "Paul Nuttall to succeed Nigel Farage as Ukip leader". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  25. "Exit stage right". The Economist. 6 October 2016. Archived from the original on 7 October 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  26. Dominiczak, Peter (19 September 2016). "Ukip's new leader Diane James says Vladimir Putin is one of her heroes". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 19 May 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  27. "This Former UKIP Leader Says She Would Consider Standing For The Conservatives". BuzzFeed. 8 April 2017. Archived from the original on 10 April 2017.
  28. "Election campaigning latest". Archived from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  29. www.europarl.europa.eu
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