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1st LD Writethru: UKIP leader quits 18 days after being elected

Xinhua, October 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

The leader of UK's Independence Party (UKIP) Diane James quit her job on Tuesday only 18 days after she was sworn in as the party's first female leader.

James confirmed her resignation late Tuesday as she tweeted that she does not "have sufficient authority, nor the full support" of her MEP colleagues and party officers to implement changes she believes necessary.

"For personal and professional reasons, I will not take the election process further," she wrote.

James had said that she would continue to concentrate fully on her activities and responsibilities as an elected UKIP member of the EU Parliament.

"I will not be formalising my recent nomination to become the new leader of the party with the election commission," she tweeted.

The surprising move came less than three weeks after James took over from Nigel Farage as UKIP's leader after a leadership contest in September.

James, a 56-year-old businesswoman, said she would campaign for UKIP to be battle ready for the next general election, due in 2020, after she was elected to lead the third largest British party.

UKIP was formed in 1993, but still only has one MP in the House of Commons. It has 22 MEPs sitting in the European Parliament and more than 400 local councilors. Endit