Flip-flop Farage
10am: He says we SHOULD hold a 2nd referendum 6pm: He backtracks and now only says it ‘may be unavoidable’
NIGEL Farage was last night accused of attention- seeking after he suggested there should be a second Brexit referendum – and then tried to backtrack.
The former Ukip leader said he was increasingly persuaded that another vote would ‘kill off’ attempts by die-hard Remainers to keep the country in the EU.
And he argued the Leave side would win by an even bigger margin if the referendum was run again. But fellow Brexit supporters accused Mr Farage of an attention-seeking stunt to boost his own profile – and said it was a ‘belated Christmas present’ for Europhiles.
Former Tory party leader Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘It is ridiculous, he is such a preposterous self-publicist.
‘He doesn’t get much coverage any more, nobody is really interested in what he has to say, he has slipped off the radar.’ After a wave of criticism, Mr Farage later attempted to backtrack, claiming in an article for the Daily Tele- graph that a second referendum might be ‘unavoidable’.
His flip-flopping started following a visit to Brussels on Monday when Mr Farage rejected the idea of a second referendum, saying: ‘We wish to govern our own country. End of.’
But yesterday he suggested another vote could ensure Brexit is not thrown off course. Appearing on Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff, he said: ‘My mind is actually changing on all this. What is for certain is that the Cleggs, the Blairs, the Adonises will never ever, ever give up. They will go on whingeing and whining and moaning all the way through this process.
‘ So maybe, just maybe, I’m reaching the point of thinking that we should have a second referendum on EU membership.’ He added: ‘We would kill it off for a generation. The percentage that would vote to leave next time would be very much bigger than it was last time round.’
But softening his stance in his Telegraph article, he wrote: ‘ We must ready ourselves for the possibility of one last dramatic battle. It may not be what we want, but it could be unavoidable.’
Earlier, anti-Brexit campaigners had gleefully celebrated his remarks. Sir Nick Clegg tweeted: ‘I agree with Nigel.’ Lord Adonis added: ‘Bring it on.’
Labour MP Chuka Umunna, a leading supporter of pro-EU campaign group Open Britain, said: ‘For perhaps the first time in his life, Nigel Farage is making a valid point.’ However, Theresa May firmly rejected the idea. Tory MP Crispin Blunt asked: ‘Has he gone mad? The people have taken the decision.’ Fellow Tory Paul Masterton asked Mr Farage on Twitter to ‘ save us all from your pathetic cries for attention’.
Henry Bolton, the current Ukip leader, added: ‘The party opposes a second referendum. To hold such a referendum would be to call into question the decisive importance of the largest democratic exercise ever held by this country.’ Party treasurer John Bickley said another vote would be ‘a belated Christmas present for Remain’.
Tory donor Peter Stringfellow yesterday said he was turning his back on the party in protest over Brexit. The nightclub owner told the London Evening Standard: ‘I can’t live with the fact that I’m supporting a party that is totally against what I think is good for our country.’
‘Kill it off for a generation’