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2nd LD Writethru: UKIP names its new leader

Xinhua, November 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Member of European Parliament (MEP) Paul Nuttall was named Monday as the new leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), one of Britain's major political parties.

Three contenders battled for the top job to take over from interim leader Nigel Farage, one of the founders of the UKIP which was set up 23 years ago to campaign for Britain to leave the EU.

Nuttall, from Liverpool, won almost 63 percent of the votes among UKIP members, beating the other two competitors.

Farage emerged as one of the leading campaigners in the summer campaign to decide Britain's future membership of the EU.

Ahead of the result being announced, Farage said without UKIP there would have been no referendum in June when 52 percent of Britons voted to leave the EU.

Nuttall pledged to continued UKIP's fight to ensure the government stuck to its pledge that Brexit means Brexit, leading to Britain leaving Europe.

He also vowed to re-unite the party after a string of internal infighting that has led to a number of resignations from its national executive.

Nuttall described the leadership contest as a new beginning for UKIP.

At the party's annual autumn conference, both Nuttall and Farage stood down as deputy leader and leader respectively.

Nuttall decided to bid for leader, saying he wanted to end the internal warring within the party to complete the job of ensuring Britain leaves the EU.

Nuttall and Farage are MEPs, with both saying they will continue to serve in Brussels.

In September,the UKIP elected Diana James as Farage's successor, but she quit after just 18 days in office, saying she had not had the support needed to do the job. Endit