Nathan Gill: UKIP must unite under Diane James or fail

We were a grassroots party, that's why it was run that way.

But only hours after her victory in the leadership contest was revealed, political opponents were referring to her as Mr Farage's "puppet".

Arron Banks, who bankrolled Ukip and the Leave.EU campaign, told an audience on BBC's Any Questions that he and Mr Farage had "had a few drinks" the night before the party's conference in Bournemouth.

Five candidates were vying to take over control of the Eurosceptics but their limited public profiles mean they may struggle to replicate the impact of the outgoing leader.

After declaring to a rapturous crowd of Ukip supporters that we got our country back Farage said: Four years ago, I predicted well cause an natural disaster in British politics.

Farage leaves the party in a state of deep division. "If they come in, they come in on a fair basis", she said.

And speaking about Brexit, she said that "the UK's signature ink is still not dry on that document", before stressing that there would be no compromises in their lobbying for a swift exit from the EU.

Mr Farage was replaced as Ukip leader by Diane James on Friday.

But the relatively unknown figure won the vote to succeed Nigel Farage comfortably, having been deputy chairman of UKIP in the past and the party's spokeswoman for justice and home affairs.

James also accused "magpie May", who is seen as more right-wing than her predecessor, David Cameron, of "stealing" UKIP policy ideas in education, defence and other fields.

In an interview this summer she made it clear she supports a purge: "There's going to be no place in UKIP under my leadership for those who have sought or seek to destabilise, destroy or even obstruct what a new constitution will outline for the new governance of this party".

And in a message to Prime Minister Theresa May she said: "If you're watching this afternoon, you'll be watching the opposition party in waiting".

Kenyon Gilbert, a UKIP member since 2013, said: "I think she'll do a really good job".

"Diane has a lot of positives, in particular her ability to portray policies in a positive way which will appeal beyond UKIP's core demographic". I said four years ago UKIP would cause an natural disaster. "Frankly, folks, I've done my bit".

James (middle) waits for the result of the UKIP leadership election.

After leading the right-wing party for a total of 10 years, he said he wanted to focus on his personal life because the vote for Brexit "means that my political ambition has been achieved".

She warned Ukip MEPs will continue "being the thorn" in the side of the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker.

James, who was the most widely-known of the candidates, adopted the unusual approach of refusing to take part in hustings in the run-up to the contest.