Suzanne Elizabeth Evans (born February 1965)
[ is an English ]journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
and politician, formerly associated with the UK Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...
(UKIP).
On 6 May 2010, she was elected as a Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
councillor in the London Borough of Merton
The London Borough of Merton () is a borough in Southwest London, England.
The borough was formed under the London Government Act 1963 in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton ...
Council. She resigned the Conservative whip on 15 May 2013, and then became a councillor with UKIP from 29 May 2013 to 22 May 2014.
Evans was Deputy Chair of UKIP from 2014 to 2016 and 2016 to 2017, with Neil Hamilton and later The Earl of Dartmouth. She was suspended from the party between March and September 2016, and was unable to run in its September 2016 leadership election before being re-appointed to the post of Deputy Chairman by Paul Nuttall
Paul Andrew Nuttall (born 30 November 1976) is a British politician who served as Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2016 to 2017. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2009 as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate, and ...
. She was one of the three candidates in the party's November 2016 leadership election. She was a spokeswoman for the party and the co-author of its election manifesto in 2015 and 2017. She resigned from the party in December 2018, over the appointment of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon
Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon (born 27 November 1982), better known as Tommy Robinson, is a British far-right, Islamophobic activist, and convicted criminal on multiple counts of violence and fraud as well as other crimes. He is the co-foun ...
as an advisor to party leader Gerard Batten
Gerard Joseph Batten (born 27 March 1954) is a British politician who served as the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2018 to 2019. He was a founding member of the party in 1993, and served as a Member of the European Parliament ( ...
.
She stood as the UKIP candidate in the Shrewsbury and Atcham
Shrewsbury and Atcham was a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Shropshire, England, between 1974 and 2009.
Shrewsbury was the only town in the borough; Atcham, alth ...
constituency in the 2015 general election.
Early life
Suzanne Elizabeth Evans was born in February 1965. Her father ran a watchmaking firm in Roushill in Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
, and her mother was a teacher.
Evans was educated at Baschurch Secondary Modern School, a state school in the village of Baschurch
Baschurch is a large village and civil parish in Shropshire, England.
It lies in North Shropshire, north-west of Shrewsbury. The village has a population of 2,503 as of the 2011 census. The village has strong links to Shrewsbury to the south-e ...
in Shropshire, now known as the Corbet School, and then at Shrewsbury Sixth Form College
Shrewsbury Sixth Form College is a post-secondary co-educational sixth-form college located in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England. The college currently has an enrolment of approximately 1,650 students, generally ranging between ...
. She attended Lancaster University
Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...
(1985–1987), from which she graduated with a BA in Religious Studies.[Suzanne Evans.]
LinkedIn. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
Media career
Evans trained as a journalist with the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
and worked for BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...
in various roles from 1987 to 1999. On BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
, these included being a reporter and presenter on the ''Sunday
Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. In most Western countries, Sunday is a day of rest and a part of the weekend. It is often considered the first day of the week.
For most observant adherents of Christianity, Sunday ...
'' programme, and a reporter for ''Woman's Hour
''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946.
History
Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by A ...
'' and for the ''Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now''
* Current era, present
* The current calendar date
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...
'' programme.
She also worked for BBC Radio 5, for the BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
, and also in several roles on BBC Local Radio
BBC Local Radio (also referred to as Local BBC Radio) is the BBC's local and regional radio division for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of forty stations.
History
The popularity of pirate radio was to challenge a change within ...
.[
Since January 2000, Evans has worked as a freelance ]public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
(PR) and marketing consultant, as Suzanne Evans Communications.[ She was also communications director at Aquarius PR from March 2006 to May 2013.][
]
Political life
Evans began her political career as a member of Merton London Borough Council
Merton London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Merton in Greater London, England. It is one of the 32 councils that form Greater London.
History
There were previously a number of local authorities responsible ...
, elected in May 2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A ...
. She was elected as a Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
councillor but resigned from the party in May 2013, citing a "poisonous war" within the party. She switched her allegiance to the UK Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...
, but lost her seat a year later.
She soon became UKIP's deputy chairwoman and head of policy, serving between July 2014 and February 2016. She was primarily responsible for writing the UKIP 2015 manifesto, having taken over the job from Tim Aker
Timür Mark "Tim" Aker (born 23 May 1985) is a British politician who was a Member of the European Parliament for the East of England region. He was elected as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate in 2014. He was head of UKIP's Policy Unit ...
. Her success in producing a coherent and credible platform, after the debacle of the party's 2010 manifesto, and her confident presentation of the completed document, prompted speculation that she might stand for leader of the party were Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was List of UK Independence Party leaders, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Brexit Party#Leaders, Lea ...
to resign after the 2015 general election. She was obliged to deny that any such bid was contemplated.[
In 2014, Evans blamed poor UKIP support in London on the city's high number of "educated, cultured and young". She explained that she thought that in London, voters were "more likely, I think, to have read some of the negative press that's been about us, and I think they'd be more likely to believe it" whereas outside London people were more cynical about media reporting. In April 2015, Evans blamed the British housing shortage on increased demand caused by mass migration, a theory also repeated by Nigel Farage in election debates.
Evans was the UKIP candidate for the ]Shrewsbury and Atcham
Shrewsbury and Atcham was a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Shropshire, England, between 1974 and 2009.
Shrewsbury was the only town in the borough; Atcham, alth ...
constituency in the 2015 general election, finishing third with 14.4% of the total vote.
After the 2015 general election
On 8 May 2015, Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was List of UK Independence Party leaders, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Brexit Party#Leaders, Lea ...
recommended her as the Interim Leader of UKIP following his resignation, but within three days the National Executive Committee of the party had rejected the Farage resignation, and so he remained leader.
On 18 June 2015, following comments made by Evans on the BBC's ''Daily Politics
''Daily Politics'' was a BBC Television programme which aired between 6 January, 2003 and 24 July, 2018, presented by Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn. ''Daily Politics'' took an in-depth review of the daily events in both Westminster and other areas a ...
'', Evans commented that the public had a "perceived divisive" view of Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was List of UK Independence Party leaders, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Brexit Party#Leaders, Lea ...
. The UKIP press office then withdrew Evans as a media commentator for UKIP, pending an internal inquiry.
On 23 March 2016, while still on the UKIP party list for the 2016 London Assembly election
The 2016 London Assembly election was an election held on 5 May 2016 to elect the members of the London Assembly. It took place on the same day as the London mayoral election and the United Kingdom local elections. Four parties had AMs in the ...
, Evans was suspended for six months from the party by UKIP's internal disciplinary committee. She, in turn, began legal action in the High Court against the decision, on the grounds that rules were allegedly being abused. Her six-month suspension from the party lapsed on 23 September.
UKIP leadership bid
Evans launched her bid to become leader of UKIP in October 2016, following the resignation of Diane James
Diane Martine James (born 20 November 1959) is a British politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 2014 to 2019. She was briefly leader-elect of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from September 2 ...
after 18 days in the job. Launching her campaign on ''The Andrew Marr Show
''The Andrew Marr Show'' is a Sunday morning talk show presented by Andrew Marr. It was broadcast on BBC One from 2005 to 2021.
The programme replaced the long-running ''Breakfast with Frost'' as the network's flagship Sunday talk show when Davi ...
'', Evans said she'd be the "strong centre" and described herself and fellow candidate Paul Nuttall
Paul Andrew Nuttall (born 30 November 1976) is a British politician who served as Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2016 to 2017. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2009 as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate, and ...
as "Team Sensible" compared to fellow candidate Raheem Kassam
Raheem J. Kassam (born 1 August 1986) is a British political activist, former editor-in-chief of ''Breitbart News'' London, and former chief adviser to former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage. He has been described as far-right an ...
, following extreme comments from the soon-to-resign leadership candidate. When the results were announced, on 28 November 2016, she came a distant second out of the remaining three, and lost her deposit with 19.3% of the vote.
Charity work
Evans founded the Lipoedema UK charity in 2011, after discovering that she suffers from the condition.
References
External links
Suzanne Evans presenting the UKIP 2015 manifesto.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Suzanne
1965 births
Alumni of Lancaster University
Alumni of Cartmel College, Lancaster
BBC radio presenters
Conservative Party (UK) councillors
Councillors in the London Borough of Merton
English journalists
English public relations people
Living people
Politicians from Shrewsbury
UK Independence Party councillors
UK Independence Party parliamentary candidates
Women councillors in England
Writers from Shrewsbury
British Eurosceptics