Speaking exclusively to Daily Star Online, Gerard Batten admitted middle-class UKIP voters “might be less understanding” of the party's policy platform since he took over.
He recently welcomed infamous YouTubers and alleged members of the British 'Alt Right' Sargon of Akkad, Count Dankula and Paul Joseph Watson into the party.
Mr Batten also spoke out in support of ex-EDL leader Tommy Robinson after he was jailed on contempt of court charges.
Former leader Nigel Farage has expressed doubts over Batten's leadership, saying he spent years "trying to keep people like [Robinson] out of the party".
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Batten told us: “UKIP, in my view, hasnt really changed but events have changed around it…things have developed.
“If you are a UKIP person who lives down in a shire somewhere very nice, where youre not touched by the issues of the inner city, you might be less understanding of the direction the party has taken under my leadership.
“The vast majority of our members are supporting what Im doing. To please everybody all the time is impossible."
Batten went on to rail against defecting Tories joining the party – the likes of which include Mr Farage himself, Mark Reckless and Douglas Carswell.
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He continued: “This has to be a party that represents ordinary working people.
“The amount of ex-Tories who rose to prominent positions in UKIP used to dismay me.
“There was a long period when we had people who had defected from the Tory party and we were just seen as some sort of alternative to the Conservatives."
Although Batten played down rumours of internal divisions, he admitted he was having a "nightmare" keeping everyone happy.
“For the past few weeks Ive been trying to finish off our manifesto and it has been a nightmare of a task.
“I want us to be a populist party. In as much as, I want us to be a party that is popular with the people.”
UKIPs party conference takes place in Birmingham over the weekend of September 21 and 22.
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