UKIP Suspends Suzanne Evans For 'Disloyalty'

Leader Nigel Farage says she is guilty of constantly criticising "not just the leader, but the party and its direction".

UKIP leader Nigel Farage and Suzanne Evans in happier times

UKIP’s leader Nigel Farage has confirmed that the party's former welfare spokeswoman Suzanne Evans has been suspended from the party for six months for "disloyalty".

"I've watched as she's gone from being a popular figure in UKIP to become a very unpopular figure by constantly criticising, not just the leader, but the party (and) its direction," Mr Farage told Sky News.

"It's sad but these things happen: in families we all see it. In life, these things happen," he said, while denying he was behind the executive council's decision. 

The high-profile board member of Vote Leave had once been touted as a future leader of the party.

Until last month she was UKIP's welfare spokeswoman. Ms Evans also wrote last year’s party manifesto and was a UKIP candidate for May's London Assembly elections.

After Mr Farage resigned and then reinstated himself following last year's general election results, she advised him to take a break.

Then earlier this year she quoted think-tank research at a fringe meeting of the party’s spring conference that Nigel Farage's name should be removed from promotional material during the EU Referendum campaign because he was divisive.

Ms Evans has lodged a petition at the High Court to postpone any disciplinary action until after the Greater London Assembly nominations are closed on 31 March.

In the court filing she accuses Mr Farage of a "vendetta" and says his former press advisor Raheem Kassam is guilty of "spearheading a series of vitriolic attacks" against her on the Breitbart website.