UKIP leadership contest row sparked by 'far-right' claims

A bitter spat has engulfed the UKIP leadership race after one challenger accused a rival of being "far-right" and warned against "a fresh injection of toxicity".

The scathing comments by Suzanne Evans about her rival Raheem Kassam revealed the divisions that continue to plague the party.

Mr Kassam immediately hit back at what he described as a "personal attack", telling Sky News' Murnaghan programme he was not "far-right".

Acting UKIP leader Nigel Farage also criticised Ms Evans and said she should not be party leader.

Ms Evans wrote her party's 2015 manifesto but later fell out with Mr Farage and was unable to stand in the last leadership election after being suspended from the party for disloyalty.

The leadership election was triggered when Diane James quit after just 18 days in the job, plunging the party into turmoil.

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A one-time frontrunner to replace her, Steven Woolfe, quit the party following an altercation with a fellow MEP, after which he ended up in hospital.

Ms Evans told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "Our future as a political party in Britain does not lie in that far-right wing. I don't see a groundswell of opinion in this country for more far-right wing policies."

Ms Evans said she "absolutely" thought Mr Kassam will take UKIP in a far-right direction but "our members don't want that".

She said: "We've taken a lot of stick in UKIP because perhaps we have had a slightly more toxic image than we should have had.

"And our members, the ones that are doing the campaigning, have felt the brunt of that - being abused, being physically and verbally assaulted on the streets.

"They don't want to have a fresh injection of toxicity that's going to make it even more difficult for them, they want policies that help us win."

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Responding to her comments, Mr Kassam, a former adviser to Mr Farage who has won the backing of party donor Arron Banks, said: "I don't want this to be about personal attacks,

"I was disappointed that 60 seconds into her campaign launch she makes it a personal attack on me

"I think this is about the future of the party.

"I certainly do not consider myself far right.

"I think she never considered me far right when she asked me for my help writing UKIP's manifesto in 2015."

He added: "When she does things like this, it really undermines her, it undermines her campaign and it is an attack on a lot of the party members."

Mr Farage told ITV's Peston on Sunday: "For her to talk about the party being toxic, for her to already declare one of the candidates who is running, Raheem Kassam, as being far-right, I don't view this as being a very good start.

"I have to say they are the sort of things she said to me - after the general election she said to me I shouldn't take any part at all in the referendum campaign, I was toxic, immigration shouldn't be discussed with the British public.

"I think she has been in the wrong place ever since that."

He added: "I won't be voting for her, not after that, no."

Meanwhile, Paul Nuttall, North West MEP for UKIP, also announced he would be standing in the leadership race, portraying himself as the unity candidate.

He told the BBC's Sunday Politics: "UKIP at the moment is looking over the edge of a political cliff, it'll either step off or it will step back.

"And I want to be the candidate that will tell us to come back."

He said UKIP is facing an "existential crisis" but insisted he is the man to unify and rebuild the party.