Suzanne Evans: Ukip leader in waiting?
Suzanne Evans, Ukip’s Deputy Chairman, caused quite a stir on Today this morning with commentators tipping her as a possible leader.
Speaking clearly and calmly she said her part would save £32 billion from quitting the EU, slashing overseas air and scrapping Hs2 – a performance which left her trending on Twitter.
So who is Suzanne Evans?
Ms Evans lost her seat at a councillor in the last round of local elections but is running for parliament this year.
She is a former Conservative who defected to the party two years ago quickly winning plaudits for assured performances in front of the camera – a skill set not every Ukip candidate boasts.
Ms Evans defected to Nigel Farage’s party in 2013 after the now infamous comments made a member of the Prime Minister’s inner circle who reportedly told journalists that the Conservative grassroots were “mad, swivel-eyed loons”.
“Better a clown than a swivel eyed loon. We are glad to be leaving the Tory circus,” she wrote at the time.
Two years on she is the most senior woman in the party. last week she joined Patrick O’Flynn, Ukip’s economic spokesman, to launch the party’s manifesto for women and she often appears on television to take part in debates or defend policies.
Although tipped by some as a potential successor to Nigel Farage she is not immune to a gaffe.
Last year she blamed Ukip’s poor performance in London (and the loss of her own seat) on “educated, cultured and young” in the capital who were less likely to vote for Ukip.
And only last week she said that immigrants were to blame for Britain’s housing crisis despite owning “two and third” homes herself. “My homes are both very modest and quite small really,” she told a press conference.
She has also said the fact that Ukip tended to be more popular among male voters was down to “pure propaganda” generated by the media and political rivals, although her own party colleague disagreed saying that Ukip has “sometimes resembled a rugby club on tour”.
She blamed Ukip’s poor performance in London (and the loss of her own seat) on “educated, cultured and young” in the capital who were less likely to vote for Ukip, and claimed the party was unlike the “metropolitan elite” in being able to understand the “heartache” felt by the rest of England.
Ms Evans is related to the William Morris “Billy” Hughes – Australian prime minister from 1915 to 1923 – who was famous for changing party five times, so it might be worth watching this space.