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Diane Martine James (born 20 November 1959) is a British politician who was a
Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
(MEP) for South East England from 2014 to 2019. She was briefly leader-elect of the
UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...
(UKIP) from September 2016 to October 2016, but resigned before formalising her leadership. At the time of her election to the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
, James was one of three UKIP MEPs for South East England, before joining the
Brexit Party Reform UK is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was bri ...
in 2019. James was born in
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
in 1959, and was a councillor on
Waverley Borough Council Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stre ...
from 2007 until 2015, when she lost the seat to the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
. She was elected to the European Parliament in 2014. Following the resignation of
Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was List of UK Independence Party leaders, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Brexit Party#Leaders, Lea ...
, 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. The length of her tenure was met with significant public and press ridicule.


Early life

James was born in
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
in 1959, where her father was an engineer and her mother a housewife. She was educated at
Rochester Grammar School Rochester Grammar School (known as Rochester Grammar School for Girls until 2006) often abbreviated to RGS is a grammar school for the education of girls between the ages of 11 and 18. It has academy status. It is now known as just "Rochester Gr ...
, Kent and
Thames Valley University The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and in Reading, Berkshire. The university has roots in 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing Col ...
,
Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...
. James spent three decades working in the health industry, where she established an international consultancy firm. She is fluent in both French and German.


Political career

James was elected to
Waverley Borough Council Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stre ...
as an Independent, representing Ewhurst ward, after falling out with local
Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
in 2007. She announced she was joining the
UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...
(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 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
figure. She was elected to the European Parliament in the 2014 election. James was the party's Home Affairs spokesperson, represented UKIP on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's ''
Question Time A question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (including the prime minister), which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be ca ...
'', and took part in debates at the
Cambridge Union Society The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1815, it is the oldest continuously running debatin ...
. In December 2014, she was selected by UKIP in
North West Hampshire North West Hampshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Conservative Kit Malthouse, who served as Education Secretary in 2022. History This constituency's results suggest a Conservative s ...
to be its parliamentary candidate, having been given a 1.2% chance of winning. However, a few hours after making a speech at the 2015 UKIP Spring Conference in
Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...
, Kent, she stepped down from the Westminster candidacy "for personal reasons".


UKIP leadership

Following the resignation of UKIP leader
Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was List of UK Independence Party leaders, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Brexit Party#Leaders, Lea ...
, James stood in the election to succeed him in August 2016. She emerged as one of the frontrunners. 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. On 4 October 2016, James confirmed that she would not be pursuing the leadership of the party despite winning the leadership election. 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." Upon signing the document that notified the
Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
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. 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. Following her resignation, the leadership of UKIP passed back to
Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was List of UK Independence Party leaders, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Brexit Party#Leaders, Lea ...
who was selected as the interim Party leader, and another leadership election was held in November in which Paul Nuttall was elected as the new leader of UKIP. Nuttall kept that position only six months.


Post-UKIP

In autumn 2016, she said that Russian President
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
was one of her political heroes: "I admire him from the point of view that he's standing up for his country." On 8 April 2017, James stated she would consider standing for a seat in the British
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
as a
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
at the next general election. Ten days later
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
called a
snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...
held on 8 June, in which James did not stand. Remaining an MEP for the full 2014–2019 term, James joined the
Brexit Party Reform UK is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was bri ...
on 5 February 2019.www.europarl.europa.eu
/ref> She left the European Parliament at the expiration of her term on 1 July, five weeks after the
2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...
in which she did not seek to be re-elected.


References


External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Diane 1959 births Living people People from Bedford Alumni of the University of West London MEPs for England 2014–2019 21st-century women MEPs for England People educated at Rochester Grammar School Place of birth missing (living people) Leaders of the UK Independence Party Councillors in Surrey UK Independence Party MEPs UK Independence Party councillors UK Independence Party parliamentary candidates Conservative Party (UK) politicians Brexit Party MEPs Women councillors in England British Eurosceptics