Ukip leadership: Suzanne Evans and Paul Nuttall announce plans to stand for party leader

Chloe Chaplain24 October 2016
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Suzanne Evans and Paul Nuttall are poised to go head-head in the battle to become the next Ukip leadership after they both joined the race to head up the crisis-hit party.

The politicians both promised to press the Government on Brexit if they are elected as leader.

But while Mr Nuttall pitched himself as the "unity" candidate, Ms Evans pledged to clean the party of its "toxic" image during a scathing attack on the Ukip hierachy.

She warned Ukip risked being turned into a Donald Trump-style party by Nigel Farage and his allies, but dismissed this strategy, insisting there is no groundswell of support for "far-right" polices in the UK.

Her announcement comes after Arron Banks, the party's most high-profile donor and former aide to Mr Farage, announced he is backing Raheem Kassam for the leadership.

Ms Evans told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "Our future as a political party in Britain does not lie in that far-right wing. I don't see a groundswell of opinion in this country for more far-right wing policies."

Ms Evans said she "absolutely" thought Mr Kassam will take Ukip in a far-right direction but "our members don't want that".

She said: "We've taken a lot of stick in Ukip because perhaps we have had a slightly more toxic image than we should have had.

"And our members, the ones that are doing the campaigning, have felt the brunt of that - being abused, being physically and verbally assaulted on the streets.

"They don't want to have a fresh injection of toxicity that's going to make it even more difficult for them, they want policies that help us win."

Ms Evans, who wrote her party's 2015 manifesto but has since fallen out with Mr Farage, was unable to stand in the last leadership election after being suspended from the party for disloyalty.

But she tried to brush off claims that her unpopularity with the Ukip leader and his close ally Mr Banks would harm her chances of being elected to lead the party.

She said there has been "too much testosterone" in Ukip and it is ripe for change.

Ngel Farage: The former leader said he will not vote for Ms Evans 
Alex Lentati

She said she has "more than enough signatures" on her nomination form already, and dismissed claims the party's finances are in a perilous state.

And making her pitch for leader, she told the show: "I think I'm the right person to lead Ukip into the challenges ahead, to be able to beat the first past the post system that we have at the moment by broadening our appeal and getting MPs into Westminster.

"But first and foremost I think I am absolutely the right person to champion the cause of those 17.4 million people who voted to leave the European Union and are now seeing their democratic choice being undermined by the political class."

Mr Kassam hit back at the comments, saying: "It is sad that 60 seconds after she launched her campaign on the BBC, Suzanne Evans attacked me and my thousands of supporters as 'far right'. This is a project fear tactic and Ukipers are sick of these smears.

"But we're going to rise above it. When she goes low, we go high, to quote Michelle Obama."

Mr Farage criticised Ms Evans' remarks and said she should not be leader.

He told ITV's Peston on Sunday: "For her to talk about the party being toxic, for her to already declare one of the candidates who is running, Raheem Kassam, as being far-right, I don't view this as being a very good start.

He added: "I won't be voting for her no."

The leadership election was triggered after Diane James quit after just 18 days in the job.

Steven Woolf: Mr Woolfe left the party after an altercation
Hermann Kelly

Steven Woolfe, the frontrunner to replace her, quit the party in the wake of an altercation with another party member after which he ended up in hospital.

Announcing his decision, Mr Woolfe said the party had fallen into a "death spiral of their own making".

Paul Nuttall, North West MEP for Ukip, told BBC's Sunday Politics: "I've made the decision that I'll put my name forward to be the next leader of Ukip.

"I have huge support out there across the country, not only among people at the top of the party in Westminster and with the MPs, but also among the grassroots.

"And I want to stand on the platform of being the unity candidate - Ukip needs to come together. I'm not going to be on here and gild the lily. Ukip at the moment is looking over the edge of a political cliff, it'll either step off or it will step back.

"And I want to be the candidate that will tell us to come back."

With additional reporting from Press Association.

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