UKIP elects new leader amid acrimony after EU vote victory

Nigel Farage, left, ex-leader of the British UKIP party and member of the European Parliament, discusses with Frans Timmermans, first vice president of the European commission, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016. EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in his State of the European Union address to the European parliament that the EU "still does not have enough Union."(AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias) (The Associated Press)

Diane James celebrates after being named as the new leader of the UK Independence Party at the party's annual conference in Bournemouth, England, Friday, Sept. 16, 2016. Britain’s right-wing U.K. Independence Party has chosen European Parliament member Diane James as its leader, replacing the charismatic but divisive Nigel Farage. James defeated four other candidates in a ballot of party members. (Ben Birchall/PA via AP) (The Associated Press)

Diane James celebrates with Nigel Farage after being named as the new leader of the UK Independence Party at the party's annual conference in Bournemouth, England, Friday, Sept. 16, 2016. Britain’s right-wing U.K. Independence Party has chosen European Parliament member Diane James as its leader, replacing the charismatic but divisive Nigel Farage. James defeated four other candidates in a ballot of party members. (Ben Birchall/PA via AP) (The Associated Press)

When Britain voted to leave the European Union, it was a triumph for the U.K. Independence Party.

Since then, the right-wing party has lurched toward disaster, losing its leader and descending into feuding.

On Friday UKIP announces the winner of a leadership contest to replace Nigel Farage, the charismatic but divisive politician who took the party's once-fringe anti-EU views into the mainstream.

Farage announced his resignation after the June 23 referendum on EU membership.

The leadership race has been acrimonious from the start. Steven Woolfe, a Farage ally and the favorite to win the contest, was excluded because he missed the application deadline by 17 minutes.

Farage says he will support whoever is chosen to lead the party, which holds just one of the 650 seats in Parliament.