Suzanne Evans ends Ukip leadership hopes
Shrewsbury-based Suzanne Evans has dropped out of the race to become the next leader of Ukip.
The former party chairman who stood for Ukip in Shrewsbury at the General Election, said she had "given up hope" of running for the leadership after Nigel Farage stepped down following the EU referendum.
In a speech on the future of the party, she said the Ukip must ends its "rugby club" and "one-man band" image and break free from its "hard right" politics.
She said she would be supporting Lisa Duffy, a Ukip councillor in Huntingdonshire, to become the next party leader, although she admitted she was not a "household name".
Ms Evans, who was suspended from the party after criticising Mr Farage, had promised a "significant announcement" at today's speech, prompting some speculation she was about to defect to the Conservatives.
Instead she said she remained "more determined than ever not to give up on Ukip".
Ms Evans claimed that Ukip was "the most successful political party of the 21st century" but said it must change to appeal to voters following the EU referendum.
