WHAT does a single-issue political party do when it achieves its sole goal? Diane James is going to have to come up with an answer to that question. After an unorthodox campaign in which she dodged events with fellow candidates, refused television appearances and declined to outline new policies, the home affairs spokesperson of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), was elected as the party’s new leader on September 16th. She garnered 47% of the vote. Her nearest challenger, Lisa Duffy, a local councillor from Cambridgeshire, won just 26%.
Ms James said her first job would be to professionalise the party. She does not face an easy task. In his final speech as deputy leader, Paul Nuttall accused the party’s senior members of “creating a cancer in the heart of the party” with the squabbling that characterised the party before the Brexit vote and after. Ms James plans to curb the power of party officials, suggesting there will be further power struggles ahead. But the election of any other candidate would have caused yet more angst. Arron Banks, a prominent UKIP donor, issued a warning that the party would be “dead in the water” should it elect anyone else.
As for policy, Ms James seems to be short of a plan. In a dreary acceptance speech she advanced few ideas beyond holding the Tories to account over Brexit. That will not be enough. Prior to the conference, two former senior party officials defected to the Tories. “The party’s over, mission accomplished,” announced one. Other members are said to be following. And Theresa May’s Conservative Party seems an increasingly welcoming home for such defectors, pushing for more grammar schools and taking a harder line on immigration. UKIP’s poll numbers have fallen to 13%, according to YouGov, considerably below their pre-referendum high.
Many members therefore reckon the party’s future lies in Wales and northern England, where they hope to win votes from disaffected former Labour votes (the “harvest” of such votes has just begun, boomed Mr Farage in his farewell address). But Ms James, who grew up in southern England and previously worked in private healthcare, seems poorly placed to attract such voters. She has little of her predecessor’s folksy, pint-glass-in-hand appeal.
The party is thus in a trickier position than might be expected, considering its recent triumph. Still, Brexit is likely to provide the party with a cause to rally around for a little while longer. It would be a betrayal should the government go for associate membership of the European Union, retain access to the single market or allow freedom of movement, said Ms James. She also accused Mrs May of beginning to “fudge” Brexit. Cries of betrayal will grow only louder. At some point, though, UKIP will have to develop an appeal beyond forcing through Brexit. There is little to suggest Ms James is the person to do it.