Richard Braine elected as new leader of UK Independence Party

Richard Braine has been elected as the new leader of United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), the part announced on its official Twitter account on Saturday. The West London chairman took 53% of the vote in a ballot of members. He finished ahead of Freddy Vachha with 20%, Ben Walker on 14% and former deputy leader Mike Hookem on 13%. Braine will be replacing Gerard Batten who was chosen as the leader of the party in 2018 on a supposedly interim basis but led UKIP in a far-right, vehemently anti-Islam direction, appointing the now-jailed far-right activist Tommy Robinson as an adviser.

Congratulations to Richard Braine, new leader of UKIP! https://t.co/f7Xo6aoCCM

— UKIP (@UKIP) August 10, 2019

The outgoing leader, Gerard Batten congratulated the new leader on a Twitter post where he suggested three things for Braine to do: "Structurally reform the Party", "Put in place measures to increase membership and raise funds", and "Grow UKIP’s vote share". He further added that the  next two years will be about consolidation and growth

Congratulations to Richard Braine, UKIP’s new Leader. A decisive win. He now needs to:* Structurally reform the Party.* Put in place measures to increase membership & raise funds* Grow UKIP’s vote shareThe next two years will be about consolidation & growth pic.twitter.com/ojycCQz50J

— Gerard Batten (@GerardBattenUK) August 10, 2019

UKIP is a hard Eurosceptic, right-wing to the far-right political party in the United Kingdom. On its website, the party says that it stands for a complete and total withdrawal from the European Union. UKIP was the only party to publish a Brexit plan, entitled, ‘Brexit Must Mean Exit. Taking Control. The UKIP Plan for Leaving the European Union’ (July 2017).

The party believes that Britain’s international standing will be enhanced by leaving the EU as it will be able to act independently, whilst retaining its membership of the UN Security Council, the World Trade Organisation, the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, and over 100 other international organizations of which we are a member.