ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Let’s start by taking a look through the top stories in today’s newspapers. I’m joined by Suzanne Evans, a woman once tipped as the next UKIP leader until of course she was suspended from the party.  We’ve got Sir Christopher Meyer who was our man in Washington of course during the Blair/Bush years and Bonnie Greer, the author and playwright.  Suzanne, a lot to talk to you about leadership in the party you want to get back into but you have kicked off with Andrea Leadsom.  An overview here, do you think that she has got what it takes to be Prime Minister?

SUZANNE EVANS: I do.  I must admit I didn’t really know Andrea Leadsom until I took part in the referendum campaign for Vote Leave which was the official campaign and I remember meeting Andrea, I heard her make a speech which I thought was incredible, she handled questions brilliantly, I thought this woman is amazing but my goodness the knives are out for her now and I’m really shocked actually at just how the press has gone for her.  They are painting her like some evil woman and yet Theresa May is being painted as a saint despite her appalling record as Home Secretary.

DM: What do you think about this interview with the Times, comparing and contrasting her family life with Theresa May’s?

SUZANNE EVANS: I think it is a great shame when women’s wombs are brought into politics in any shape or form frankly but it’s quite clear and Andrea Leadsom has been very clear that she did not try to make this about whether or not she had children and Theresa didn’t and you look at the transcripts at the Times and the recordings that have come out, she did not say what that Times headline said she did.

DM: She didn’t say what the headline said but she almost said unsolicited that …

BONNIE GREER: She gave almost a stream of consciousness interview to a journalist, I mean you just don’t do that and that is one of the main reasons I think she isn’t qualified to run the Conservative party, not only that she is going to be our next Prime Minister

SUZANNE EVANS: Well Bonnie, people are calling her naïve, I think that’s unfair.  I would rather have an ordinary person with a decent life history and experience and she has got far more experience than David Cameron had when he became Prime Minister, I’d rather have that, a little naivety than somebody who is a polished media performer who puts out sound bites.  Much, much better to have her than a sort of duplicitous politician.

SIR CHRISTOPHER MEYER: If you are calling Theresa May duplicitous I think that’s as bad as the accusations that she was accusing people of as far as Andrea Leadsom was concerned.  

SUZANNE EVANS:  I said Theresa May had a bad record as Home Secretary, I was making a more general point and not … Let me make it clear …

[All talking at the same time]

DM: Just on narrow experience then, you’ve got to admit that Theresa May has got  a lot more in the locker than Andrea Leadsom.

SUZANNE EVANS:  She has experience but look at her record.  This is the woman who is going to be charged, if she becomes Prime Minister she is going to be charged with getting us out of the European Union.  She has failed to hit the Conservative party’s promised immigration targets, she has failed to deport dangerous criminals from our country, she has failed to stand up to the European Union.  

DM: Let’s bring in about the need for an effective opposition as well to deal with the turmoil and bring governments to account.  

SUZANNE EVANS:  It’s quite interesting isn’t it, I think Bonnie is absolutely right, the Labour party lost its heart and soul quite some time ago and the fact that practically all Labour MPs bar a small handful voted for Remain and yet the Labour heartlands of Britain turned out for Leave.  Exactly as Bonnie says, a clear sign that the Labour party is completely headed in the wrong direction and yes, I hope they can …

BONNIE GREER: It’s about the nation, it’s bad for the nation.  If Jeremy remains the leader I’d be thrilled but we need an effective opposition.  

DM:  Suzanne bring us on to your next story, you’ve chosen your own interview and your own assessment of the outgoing leader Nigel Farage.

SUZANNE EVANS: Yes, I’d very much like to stand for the UKIP leadership that’s coming up. Nigel is still in charge as leader at the moment but as we know, he has promised to stand down and resign.  

DM: He has promised, do you think he might renege again?

SUZANNE EVANS: I have to say I did see one headline saying he hadn’t ruled out a comeback so I thought oh gosh, are we going to go through this repeat of three days in May?  Presumably once we’ve had our leadership election then he’ll stand down but he has also said he is going to stay as leader in the group in the European Parliament as well so in theory we could have an MEP who becomes leader of UKIP but they are somehow subservient to Nigel in the European parliament so I think this story has got a long way to run yet.

DM: But tell us about you, Suzanne, you think the party is halfway towards its objective in terms of winning that referendum but now is the chance, an opportunity for it to change and what we talked about earlier in terms of centre ground and particularly disaffected Labour voters.

SUZANNE EVANS: Yes, I think that’s right.  I have always said that UKIP can sit very much right in the centre of British politics taking from left and taking from right and I think we started to do that – you may look very surprised Christopher but that’s what we’ve started to do.

SIR CHRISTOPHER MEYER: I need a glass of water!

SUZANNE EVANS: Put something in it – it’s a bit early.  We started that with our general election manifesto when we had a much wider range of policies which were very popular.  We showed in polls that our policies for the NHS and education were actually the most popular of any political parties which we were particularly proud of …

SIR CHRISTOPHER MEYER: This is a party political broadcast on behalf of UKIP.  I’m falling asleep.  

DM: We’ve run out of time, very good to see you, Suzanne, Christopher, Bonnie thank you all very much indeed.