The (many) leaders of UKIP: A look back at those who have led the party as Neil Hamilton bags the job

Neil Hamilton has been elected as the new leader of UKIP.

The politician is the latest in a long string of figures to have led the party in recent years and he has been serving as interim leader since September 2020, following the suspension of Freddy Vachha.

On their website, UKIP has listed Hamilton’s job as lasting until October 2025, but given he is the party’s 13th official leader and there have been four further different interim leaders, perhaps this is optimistic.

Here are some of the more notable - if only because they have silly names - people whose footsteps he now walks in:

Jeffrey Titford, January 2000 - October 2002

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This man with a silly surname was once the president of the National Association of Funeral Directors.

Roger Knapman, October 2002 - September 2006

A former Tory MP, Knapman fell asleep at the wheel when he campaigned against letting Poland join the EU only for it to be revealed he employed a team of Polish builders to renovate his home.

Awkward.

Nigel Farage, September 2006 - November 2009 and November 2010 - September 2016

Nigel Farage ITV

Farage is probably the best-known former leader of the party. The frequently ridiculed politician also founded and led the Brexit Party and now appears on GB News a lot to pontificate about whatever nonsense he has on his mind.

Gerard Batten, April 2018 - June 2019

Batten led UKIP in an even more controversial direction by appointing Tommy Robinson as an advisor. This led party members including Nigel Farage to leave.

Richard Braine, August 2019 - October 2019

Dick Braine has The Most Amusing UKIP Leader Name Of All Time.

The former leader, who held his position for a shorter duration than most internships, courted controversy for saying he confused London Mayor Sadiq Khan with 7/7 bombers and spent the majority of his summer job being roasted for his name.

Braine was accused of “stealing data” from the party (which he denied) and was duly suspended. He then resigned and in his resignation letter Braine said his efforts to lead the party had been “met with pre-emptive opposition” from senior figures.

“I did not join Ukip in order to waste time on internal conflict, but I have found myself powerless to prevent a purge of good members from the party,” Braine wrote.

“I had believed that Ukip was a highly democratic party, but I have not been able to stop political interference in Ukip ballots. I cannot therefore stand publicly for Ukip with a clear conscience.”

Neither can many others, Braine, but not for the same reason.

Pat Mountain, interim leader October 2019 - April 2020

Pat MountainSky News

Mountain holds the title of having The Second Most Amusing UKIP Leader Name Of All Time. She will also go down in the UKIP history books for doing some remarkably bad PR for the party by accidentally calling it “a racist party” in an interview with Sky News.

For some bizarre reason, she is still one of the party’s official spokespeople.

Freddy Vaccha, June 2020 - September 2020

The leadership was helpfully vacant for a couple of months, then it was Vaccha’s turn to steer the ship. Vaccha became the leader of the party in June 2020. In a, ahem, rousing speech announcing his reign, he said the party had gone “astray,” and focussed on things that were “just wrong” but he warned the “blaggards in Westminster to watch out”.

Three months later, Vaccha was suspended from the party in September 2020, with the party stating that “a serious clash of personalities developed, which made collegiate working impossible.”

The party, it seemed, had gone astray...

Neil Hamilton, October 2020 - ?

And that brings us to Neil Hamilton - former Tory MP and husband to media personality Christine Hamilton, who has appeared on Masterchef and I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

In 1996, it was reported Hamilton had taken money in brown envelopes from Mohamed Al Fayed in a “cash-for-questions” scandal. He resigned from government when his libel suit against the Guardian collapsed.

Whether he will go the distance or end up embroiled in some tiff or scandal remains to be seen.