POLLS NIGHTMARE OVER THREAT
Cheap stunt could spell trouble for both parties
England, Scotland and Wales. Please don’t doubt we are ready. Next Monday we have 500 candidates coming to London and they will all be signing their candidate forms on that day.
“There are two weeks to put together a Leave alliance. It needs to be done.
“There are seats in which we would not stand and there are some seats in which the Tories would not stand.
“In particular, ‘old Labour’ seats that have never ever been Conservative where there were Leave majorities but they’re represented by Remain MPs. They are our number one target.”
He said the party would focus on
Mirror story on President’s Brexit deal fear
North East England, the Midlands, Wales and East London.
Millionaire Mr Farage, who has rebranded himself as the man of the people riding to the rescue of Brexiteers fed-up with the political elite, vowed to reveal if and where he intends to stand for election on December 12 “in the coming days”. His bid to become an MP has failed seven times so far.
Mr Johnson said of his alliance threat: “Voting for any other party than this Conservative government is basically tantamount to putting Jeremy Corbyn in.” Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick added: “We are not
NIGEL FARAGE THREATENS TO SCUPPER TORY POLL VICTORY interested in doing any pacts with the Brexit Party, or with anybody else.”
Mr Farage’s warning was another blow to Mr Johnson, coming just a day after President Trump said the PM’s Brexit deal could scupper any trade pact with the US.
He had said on Thursday in a radio interview on LBC: “This deal, under certain aspects of the deal, you can’t trade.” The Tories were last night desperate to prove Mr Trump is wrong. Mr Jenrick said: “The PM’s deal allows us to do trade deals with any country we chose, including the US.”
Mr Johnson had vowed Brexit would
PM in car & below in video happen by Halloween, “do or die”. He said he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than ask the EU for a January 31 extension. But with MPs deadlocked, the humiliated PM asked Brussels to delay until then, which it agreed.
■ The December election could disrupt primary school nativity plays and end of term exams, teachers have warned. One union boss called for a review into whether using schools as polling stations is still suitable.
VOICE OF DIVISION Nigel Farage
JASON BEATTIE
LIKE all dodgy salesmen, Nigel Farage’s patter is usually better than the product he’s flogging.
He knows there is no way the Tories will agree to his ultimatum to ditch their Brexit policies in return for the Brexit Party sitting out the election.
This was a classic publicity stunt by a showboating politician who so craves the limelight he’s rarely pictured without his greasepaint on.
Whether Farage will carry out his threat to field candidates in every seat is another matter.
Research by Hope Not Hate found more than 300 of the 650 parliamentary constituencies have yet to select a Brexit Party candidate.
GIFT
This does not mean Farage could not have an impact on the result, even if he fails to field a full slate of candidates. Labour believes there are 30 to 40 seats where a strong Brexit Party showing could deny the Tories a majority and gift the seat to Jeremy Corbyn.
But there is a counter argument that in some seats the Brexit Party could damage the opposition. Traditional Labour supporters disillusioned with Corbyn’s leadership, who would never countenance voting Tory, may be prepared to throw their lot in with Farage.
That said, it is Boris Johnson who should be more worried. The Tory leader wants to spend the campaign saying he’ll get Brexit done. He now faces Farage following him around, megaphone at hand, shouting “No you won’t. It’s not a proper Brexit.”
We will contest every single seat. Please don’t doubt we are ready