ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Time for a look at the Sunday papers, a lot of them report what might happen with UKIP after the resignation of its leader for 18 days, Diane James and the hospitalisation of the leading contender to replace her, Stephen Woolfe.  Well I’m joined by the UK Independence Party’s former chair, Suzanne Evans who is still to say whether she might be standing for the party’s leadership.  Well we’ll put that right in a moment or two.  Jenny Russell is a columnist for the Times, the Sunday Times and the Evening Standard and on in a week in which it became apparent that Theresa May’s government has no problem issuing dictats to business, I am joined by the Palestinian born chief executive of the hedge fund Hermes, Sakker Nusseibeh.  Very good morning to you all.  Well before we get to the papers, Suzanne, put us out of our misery, are you going to stand.

SUZANNE EVANS: Look, I’m reflecting it on it very carefully, I really am, taking soundings from members and so on and so forth.  I think the party has just experienced the downsides of a new leader who perhaps didn’t quite reflect carefully enough so I will make a decision, come to an informed decision and I will make the announcement as and when.

DM: But not now?

SUZANNE EVANS: But not today.

DM: Okay and what about the shenanigans in Strasbourg, what do you make of that?

SUZANNE EVANS: I think, as Nigel said, it’s very unseemly, it’s not the say two men should behave in public, absolutely not.  UKIP as a party has got to get its act together, let’s be honest, we need to be the opposition in waiting as our very swift former leader actually said because the Labour party is no opposition so UKIP has got to get its act together and clearly the events that just happened…

DM: So do you think at the moment you are letting your voters down?

SUZANNE EVANS: I think the voters at the moment would perhaps have every right not to have the confidence that I think they can have in the party. I think that UKIP has got a huge role to play going forward, people are saying oh UKIP’s lost its focus, lost its purpose, Brexit’s going to happen but I think there is much more that we can be doing and in fact I am working on a big policy document at the moment looking at what UKIP can offer to the electorate going forward and I am very much looking forward to that.

DM: And that will be the basis of a leadership manifesto.

SUZANNE EVANS: No, it’s part of my day job but absolutely I hope whoever is the new leader will take some of those ideas forward.  

[Story about Louise Casey, government information Tsar]
SUZANNE EVANS: I am quite dubious about some of these government Tsars, I think sometimes they are put in as a PR exercise when the government has got a difficult problem that it wants to solve and it wants to make itself look good – we’re doing something, we’re putting in this government Tsar.  Well I think Louise Casey has quite rightly called their bluff on this, she is actually one of the few that has done a good job, she has done something and they are saying oh, because you’ve reached the wrong conclusion we’re going to …

[Story about deporting foreign criminals]
SUZANNE EVANS: The Tories have been talking tough on deporting foreign crooks for quite some time but it simply is not working, it’s all talk and no action and a story in the Sun today says that just two out of 453 foreign criminals have been kicked out of the United Kingdom once they’ve served their sentence.  

DM: So they are released from jail and they stay here?

SUZANNE EVANS: And they stay, you know, lawyers jump on the bandwagon, manage to get them staying under Human Rights legislation. It’s interesting, there is also a piece in the Express today about Abu Hamza trying to get back into the United Kingdom, his lawyers are saying there is a strong humanitarian case that it would be better for him on health grounds to be incarcerated here. Oh my heart bleeds, sod off, sorry you can’t come back.  There is too much going on, there were also reports earlier in the week which horrified me that there is an Islamic hate preacher who says gay men should be burned and beheaded to death, or burned to death and beheaded, and he is actually teaching here in a school run by the Iranian government, what is happening with that?

DM: So the rhetoric isn’t matching up to the actions?

SUZANNE EVANS: Absolutely not.  A lot of Brexiteers are saying Theresa May is fantastic, she’s taking us out of the EU but let’s not forget her record as Home Secretary is not good.

[Story about pensions]
SUZANNE EVANS: Tax payers are already paying too much for these infrastructure projects.  The ones who can afford to invest in it are the ones who are going to be able to afford to invest, the rest of us struggle.   

[Story about Donald Trump]
SUZANNE EVANS: My number one question is why is anyone surprised about this?  This man has demonstrated time and time again that he’s sexist, misogynist and all the rest of it, why is anyone surprised?  I had to laugh actually, his wife’s statement, if a statement was never written by the person that’s alleged to have said it but by a spin doctor, this is it, “He has the heart and mind of a leader”, you know, yeah, but his brain’s in his pants.  

DM: Nigel Farage is out talking about it today, he seems to think it’s just a bit of banter.

SUZANNE EVANS: I make no excuses for this and …

JENNY RUSSELL: Are you condemning what Nigel said, because he said this is just alpha male boasting?

SUZANNE EVANS: He said that some men in power might …

[All talking at the same time]

DM: So Nigel is wrong on this?

SUZANNE EVANS: I don't think there are any excuses for Trump.

JENNY RUSSELL: Do you think Nigel should not be turning up to support Trump at tonight’s rally?

SUZANNE EVANS: I wouldn’t be there supporting Trump personally but can I also say …

JENNY RUSSELL: So are you condemning Nigel for doing that because I why not condemn him as Trump?

SUZANNE EVANS: Can I also say … can I also say, I said I don't think there are any excuses for what Trump has said but I also must highly Hillary Clinton’s hypocrisy here.  If Trump has had any fantasies about cigars in the Oval Office and young interns in a navy blue dress, whose fault is that?

JENNY RUSSELL: Hang on a minute, that is absolutely outrageous …

SAKKER NUSSEIBEH: She is not to blame for her husband.

SUZANNE EVANS: She covered up for him, she covered up for him.

JENNY RUSSELL: You just cannot equate these two things, you cannot equate Trump’s verbal attacks on woman and …

SUZANNE EVANS: I think you can …

[All talking at the same time]

DM: Do you think this is the end of his candidacy, do you think he should stand down?

SUZANNE EVANS: I’m not blaming Hillary but I am talking about hypocrisy.  

DM: Listen, thank you all very much indeed for taking us through some very important stories in the papers, very good to see you all.