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Farage returns as #UKIP leader

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6a00d8341bf8f353ef017eeacb1b2e970dNigel Farage is back as UKIP's leader after Diane James unexpectedly quit the job after 18 days at the helm.

Farage said he would be the UK Independence Party's interim leader until a fresh election was held to find James's successor.

"I keep trying to escape... and before I'm finally free they drag me back," he joked.

James announced her resignation late on Tuesday (4 October), citing professional and personal reasons for her decision.

James, who succeeded Nigel Farage on 16 September after he resigned following the Brexit vote, said she did not have enough authority in the party and would not be "formalizing" her nomination.

She had not appointed a deputy and UKIP officials were initially unable to say who was now the leader of the party.

Asked why James had stood down, Farage said he believed it was partly due to a family illness and the "realization" of what the job entailed.

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"When you take this job your life finishes. This is what you are 24/7, there is nothing else. I think she looked down the barrel of that and thought 'this is not how I want to live my life'."

Asked about speculation that Welsh UKIP leader Neil Hamilton could be installed as interim leader by the party's national executive committee, Farage said: "Really? Well we'll have to see about that won't we.

"I do not see any prospect of that horror story coming to pass," he said, adding that Hamilton "doesn't do our public image a whole host of good".

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