UKIP’s EU Parliament Member Coburn Refuses to Rule Out Leadership Bid

UK Independence Party (UKIP) Member of the European Parliament David Coburn said that he rules out his participation of the upcoming party leadership race.

EDINBURGH (Sputnik) – UK Independence Party (UKIP) Member of the European Parliament David Coburn has not ruled himself out of the upcoming party leadership race, in a comment to Sputnik on Monday.

Earlier in the day, UKIP leader Nigel Farage announced that he was stepping down. He said he had fulfilled his "political ambition" of seeing the United Kingdom leave the European Union in the June 23 referendum.

"It is early days, I haven’t really thought about running for UKIP leader. I’m watching the runners and riders. I need to see who else is standing," Coburn said.

Coburn, who is UKIP’s only elected representative in Scotland, stressed that the pre-leadership contest campaign would be conducted in a civilized manner. He slammed the ruling Conservatives and the main opposition Labour Paty for squabbling internally in recent months.

"Unlike the other parties, we won’t have a borders-style backstabbing situation. We will all sit down, have a nice lunch together and try and decide who is the best and put that to the members. We try and be civilized in UKIP, unlike the Conservatives and the Labour Party who think more about themselves than their country," Coburn said.

The Conservatives and Labour have been in turmoil following the UK voters’ decision to leave the bloc. Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation a day after the vote, while half of Labour’s shadow cabinet turned on its leader Jeremy Corbyn for allegedly running a lackluster pro-Remain campaign.