Neil Hamilton elected leader of Ukip group in the Welsh Assembly

Neil Hamilton, the former Conservative MP once synonymous with the 'cash-for-questions' scandal and Tory sleaze has been elected leader of the Ukip group in the Welsh Assembly.

Mr Hamilton, 67, has always denied any wrongdoing over the cash-for-questions affair, but many assumed he was finished as a politician after he launched two unsuccessful libel actions and lost his English parliamentary seat to ‘anti-sleaze’ candidate Martin Bell in 1997.

Assisted by his ‘battle-axe’ wife Christine, he embarked on a new career in showbusiness, appearing on TV shows like Have I Got News For You, while Mrs Hamilton became a popular contestant on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!

But after joining Ukip in 2011 he returned to active politics, and in Thursday’s Welsh Assembly election, he won a Mid and West Wales regional seat in a contest decided by proportional representation.

His elevation to leader of the Ukip Welsh Assembly group came at the expense of Nathan Gill, the leader of Ukip Wales who also became an assembly member (AM) on Thursday.

After Ukip won its first seats since the Welsh Assembly’s creation, the seven new Ukip members met on Tuesday to decide who should be their leader.

The BBC reported that Mr Hamilton won the support of four Ukip AMs to Mr Gill’s three.

The defeat, Mr Gill admitted afterwards, was “not the nicest feeling in the world.”

He had reportedly told an election debate in April that he probably would not have chosen Mr Hamilton as a UKIP candidate. Mrs Hamilton hit back at Mr Gill, claiming the Ukip Wales leader was a “third-rate general”

Mr Gill will remain as leader of Ukip Wales, a position that is decided by the UK party leader Nigel Farage, not Welsh Assembly members.

Earlier this year, when the possibility of Mr Hamilton becoming a Ukip candidate in the Welsh Assembly elections emerged, some Ukip activists complained he had been “foisted on Wales” as a result of “political cronyism”. An anonymous leaflet criticising Mr Hamilton was also sent to Ukip members.

But after defeating Mr Gill to become Assembly group leader, Mr Hamilton told reporters: "We've achieved an outcome by consensus. We decided to put all past differences behind us and forget the lead up to the election campaign, where there was a lot of personal animosity created.

"I've been chosen to do a specific job to be leader of the Ukip AMs within the assembly.

"I've got great deal of parliamentary experience. I've been a government minister.

"I'm going to make use of that experience within the group to give UKIP the maximum amount of impact during the course of the next five years."

Before his election, Mr Hamilton had told Ukip activists: “I can make mincemeat of the mediocrities who litter the assembly." The day before his election, he told The Independent: “I am looking forward to introducing some well-merited acrimony into debates.”

Labour AM Mark Drakeford, health minister in the previous assembly, told the BBC: "Having to deal with them is not something I will look forward to."

It was reported that as leader of the Ukip assembly group, Mr Hamilton will earn a £84,000 salary, consisting of his £64,000 AM’s salary and an additional payment for being leader of an opposition group.

Mr Hamilton also told The Independent the cash-for-questions scandal had not been an issue on the campaign trail.

He added that the accusations against him had been “a pack of lies”.

"I was exonerated after a two-year investigation by the Inland Revenue," he said.

"Sir Gordon Downey’s view that there was compelling evidence I took cash for [asking] questions [in Parliament] was rejected by the House of Commons Standards Committee.”

Mr Hamilton said Ukip AM’s would offer “constructive opposition”, adding: “We have no intention of being seduced by the fruits of office.”