Farage condemns candidate who ditched bid to helpTories
‘Disgusting behaviour’ as Brexit MEP pulls out
NIGEL Farage has offered an apology to his supporters in Dudley North after accusing Brexit Party MEP Rupert Lowe of “disgusting” behaviour in pulling out as a candidate at the 11th hour.
Mr Farage said his respect for Mr Lowe had “gone completely” after he confirmed his withdrawal in Dudley North as last Thursday’s 4pm nomination deadline passed.
The former Southampton FC chairman’s actions prevented the Brexit Party fielding a replacement candidate in the seat, which Ian Austin won for Labour by a 22-vote margin in 2017.
Mr Farage said Mr Lowe’s move had not been sanctioned.
“It was disgusting behaviour,” Mr Farage said. “What he probably hasn’t told you is that he met a senior official from Number 10 in the middle of last week, somebody quite close to Boris, and this was obviously stitched up.
“If he made a decision, he went and changed course, he’s entitled to. But to let everybody else down at the eleventh hour, dreadful behaviour – shocking.”
Asked for his message for party supporters in Dudley North, Mr Farage added: “I’m sorry – we have been doublecrossed, let down badly by a man who has behaved dishonestly.
“I’m sorry, that’s all I can say.”
In a tweet which coincided with the deadline, Mr Lowe, who was elected as one of three West Midlands Brexit Party MEPs earlier this year, tweeted: “I am putting country before party as it is highly conceivable my candidacy could allow Corbyn’s Momentum candidate to win. They are simply not fit to govern.”
A statement attached to the tweet added: “I believe that if the Labour Party were to be elected in the forthcoming election Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell with Momentum behind them will devastate Britain and destroy all that decent people have achieved through their hard work and enterprise. They are simply not fit to govern and Momentum is the most sinister development in recent British politics, mirroring the beginnings of the Communist Party in the USSR.”
Meanwhile, Ian Austin has revealed more about his decision to speak out against Jeremy Corbyn.
Mr Austin was adopted as a child by a Jewish refugee from Czechoslovakia fleeing the Nazis in 1939.
The former MP said: “When you hear Jewish people saying they would consider leaving the country, when 87 per cent say they think Jeremy Corbyn is antisemitic, when just six per cent of the Jewish community say they would vote for the main opposition party – how is that acceptable?”