On 2 June 2019, Batten resigned his post as party leader as he had promised if he lost his MEP position. In the 2019 UKIP leadership election, Richard Braine was elected UKIP leader and attempted to appoint Batten as deputy leader. Braine's attempt to appoint Batten as the party's deputy leader was blocked by its National Executive Committee (NEC). Braine was criticised in the press for comments he has made which were considered racist and offensive, including one incident in which he claimed he "often confused" London mayor Sadiq Khan with Mohammad Sidique Khan, one of the 7/7 terror attackers. Braine later further came underfire when he announced he planned to boycott the September 2019 UKIP Party conference in Newport, after less than 450 tickets were sold for the conference. The Chairman of UKIP, Kirstan Herriot, stated to members that Braine had attempted to cancel the conference due to the low turnout and was highly critical of this attempted action.