The UKIP, the party said to be the voice of post-EU Britain is now itself struggling to find a voice. Or let's say find a voice for unexpected reasons. After the Labour party, UKIP has plunged itself into a leadership crisis of its own making as its now former leader Diane James quit after just 18 days in the top job.
The former chief adviser UKIP is now among seven candidates vying for to the top job. Raheem Kassam, the 30-year-old former chief adviser is the son of Tanzanian immigrant parents of Gujarati origin from Hillingdon. A politics student at the University of Westminster, he was raised as an Ismaili Khoja but has not been a practising Muslim for over a decade. Kassam declared himself as an atheist, stating that Christopher Hitchens’ rejection of religious faith inspired him. He considers the niqab and Sharia to be tools of "cultural jihad" and condemns what he describes as an "Islamophobia industry”.
While announcing his leadership bid, he stated that he wanted to "stop infighting within UKIP", "address the deep cultural and social divides in this country", and "to become the real opposition and put this feckless Labour Party to bed.”
Former deputy chairwoman and a leadership rival Suzanne Evans said Kassam would take UKIP in the wrong direction. She added Mr Kassam would try to emulate Donald Trump and could create a British version of the Tea Party making UKIP too right wing if he became the leader.
