Guido was in the Marquis of Granby pub earlier this afternoon when he eavesdropped on a Suzanne Evans campaign meeting with Patrick O’Flynn and Lisa Duffy. Paddy, the most high profile Kipper backing Suzanne and her effective campaign manager, was overheard to say he thinks she will come second. Which is an honest and realistic viewpoint, even if it is one Team Suzanne wouldn’t want to admit to holding publicly. Loose-lips sink ships…
UPDATE: O’Flynn confirms it.
@GuidoFawkes @SuzanneEvans1 we like to under-promise and over-deliver dear boy!
— Patrick O’Flynn (@oflynnmep) October 28, 2016
Suzanne Evans is 16/1 at the bookies behind clear favourite Paul Nuttall (1/4 on) and Raheem Kassam (8/1). She is crowdfunding her campaign to raise the £5,000 deposit needed to actually run – so far she has raised 30% of what she needs to stay in the race. Despite offering a bottle of champagne signed by Nigel Farage if you pledge £1,000, it seems to have stalled a bit and has raised only £10 in the last two days…
.@Nigel_Farage responds to @SuzanneEvans1‘s leadership bid on #Marr & her comments on @RaheemKassam and @UKIP being ‘toxic’ #Peston pic.twitter.com/d8y9PsZNY8
— Peston on Sunday (@pestononsunday) October 23, 2016
After Suzanne called Raheem “far right”, Nigel tells Peston: “I won’t be voting for her, not after that”. It’s war on UKIP Super Sunday…
“I’m the right person to lead the party” UKIP’s @SuzanneEvans1 announces leadership bid #marr https://t.co/rDxBJ0qebX
— The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) October 23, 2016
As expected Suzanne Evans is in the race. She says Raheem Kassam is on the “far right” and says UKIP don’t need Arron Banks’ money. Punchy…
UKIP’s @SuzanneEvans1 says she think’s frontrunner @RaheemKassam will take the party to the far-right #marr https://t.co/gKyUlyaQay
— The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) October 23, 2016
Nuttall set to declare later this morning…
Stand by for UKIP leadership contenders to make their minds up by Sunday. There are op-eds being lined up in the weekend papers, before Suzanne Evans and Paul Nuttall tour the Sunday morning politics programmes. Suzanne has been gathering signatures so she looks set to announce. All eyes on Nuttall, who some prominent Kippers think has plucked up the courage to run. Farage is also appearing on Peston. Raheem Kassam will be spending the weekend with the grassroots, trying to close the gap on the others who’ve done years on the rubber chicken circuit. We’ll have a better idea of who the next leader will be in 72 hours time…
