Farage throws down election gauntlet to the Conservatives
●Brexit Party leader threatens to stand candidates in every seat in UK but Johnson rejects pact
Boris Johnson has rejected pressure from Donald Trump and an ultimatum from Nigel Farage, saying he will not form an electoral pact with the Brexit Party.
The Prime Minister said he had “ruled out a pact with everybody” despite being told the
Conservatives face a challenge in every constituency in Great Britain unless he abandons his Brexit deal.
Mr Farage said the deal was “not Brexit” and insisted the Prime Minister agree to a “Leave alliance” by the time general election nominations close on 14 November.
Hisannouncementyesterday
followed a dramatic intervention from the US president, who told Mr Farage in a radio interview on Thursday the Tories and Brexit Party would be an “unstoppable force” if they came together.
But despite warnings that votes lost to the Brexit Party could make the difference in dozens of seats, the Prime Minister rejected the demands, telling Sky News last night: “I’ve ruled out a pact with everybody because I don’t think it’s sensible to do that.”
And in an interview with ITV, Mr Johnson insisted: “The problem with voting for any other party is that the risk is you get Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party.”
The Prime Minister also rejected criticism of his Brexit deal from Mr Trump, who claimed the agreement would prevent trade with the US.
“I’m afraid I don’t wish to cast any aspersions on the president of the United States, but in that respect he’s patently in error, anybody who looks at our deal can see that it’s a great deal,” he said.
And speaking on the 100th day of his premiership, Mr Johnson apologised to the Conservative members for breaking his promise to deliver Brexit “do or die” by Thursday, which he was forced to extend to 31 January.
“It’s a matter of deep regret. All we need to do now is get on and do it,” he said.
A Number 10 spokesman said the Prime Minister had not discussed the deal with Mr Trump and insisted the agreement would not hinder trade.
“The PM’S deal takes back control of our money, laws and border, and allows us to do trade deals with any country we chose – including the US,” the spokesman said.
At an event yesterday, Mr Farage effectively delayed the launch of the Brexit Party campaign for two weeks, but said he was prepared to mount a “fully funded” national campaign.
He would not confirm if he personally was going to stand for election, saying he would make an announcement in the next few days.
Mr Farage hit out at Mr Johnson’s “broken promises” after the government failed to take the UK out of the EU on 31 October, telling a press conference in Westminster: “I say to Boris Johnson – drop the deal.”
The Conservatives have repeatedly rejected the Brexit Party’s calls for an alliance, with a party source previously saying Mr Farage and Brexit Party supporter Arron Banks were “not fit and proper” to run the country.
Mr Farage said he was willing to make “local exceptions” and stand aside for staunch Tory Brexiteers.
“Of course I’m open and flexible to local exceptions and already we are in communication with a number of MPS who are prepared to renounce the Withdrawal Agreement, to renounce the deal, and they themselves to stand on a ticket of a genuine free trade agreement or leave on WTO terms,” he said.
“And of course in those cases where MPS say this, we will view them as our friends and not as our enemies.
“And more interestingly, already we are being approached to put together informal arrangements on the ground – constituencies in which they may have a better chance of winning and we won’t bother to campaign, but equally constituencies in which we have got a better chance of winning and they won’t campaign and that is already beginning to come together.
“But that is not the real deal. The real deal is a Leave alliance that wins a big majority in Parliament. The real deal is a Leave alliance that delivers a genuine Brexit.”
Steve Baker, a key Brexiteer figure as chairman of the European Research Group, also rejected the idea of an electoral pact.
“It is completely inconceivable that the Conservative Party would now go for no-deal and a pact,” he said.
The Scottish Conservatives also dismissed the possibility of an alliance with the Brexit Party, with Scottish leader Jackson Carlaw saying he does not support such a tie-up.
He said the Brexit Party would not be able to stop a second referendum on Scottish independence, which is the driving force behind the Scottish Tories’ campaign.
Mr Carlaw said: “I just think politics in Scotland are different. Because Nicola Sturgeon is making independence the central issue of this campaign, that’s not something the Brexit Party can do anything to stop.”
Meanwhile, former Tory MP Antoinette Sandbach, who was ejected from the party for rebelling to block a no-deal Brexit, has defected to join the Liberal Democrats. Ms Sandbach, who brings the number of Lib Dem MPS to 20, will contest her Eddisbury constituency in Cheshire at the general election, despite the Lib Dems coming a distant third in 2017.
“I’m afraid I don’t wish to cast any aspersions on the president of the United States, but in that respect he’s patently in error…”
BORIS JOHNSON
UK Prime Minister
Nigel Farage’s call for Boris Johnson to abandon his Brexit deal – with the threat that Brexit Party candidates will stand in every seat if he does not – is, almost certainly, optimistic at best.
With opinion polls putting the Conservatives well ahead, it is unlikely that the Prime Minister will perform what would be a humiliating U-turn and embrace Farage’s offer of joining him in a “Leave alliance”.
From a tactical point of view, it makes much more sense to warn right-wing Brexiteers that supporting Farage will only split their votes and help Labour or other parties, as Johnson did yesterday.
For all sensible Remainers and Leavers, that should be a source of comfort, because Farage’s stance would almost certainly result in the disaster of a no-deal Brexit. He may have talked about getting a deal, but only in terms that the European Union would never, and indeed could never, accept.
So if Johnson did team up with Farage to form what Donald Trump claimed would be “an unstoppable force”, it would only be one that caused potentially catastrophic damage to the UK economy. If Brexit is to happen, the UK needs to get a deal that will reduce the resulting harm by as much as possible.
Cynics might suggest that if post-brexit Britain ends up on its economic knees, then it would be in the worst position possible for any resulting negotiations with the US about a trade deal. They might also speculate that Vladimir Putin would be delighted to see the UK fall into a recession with knock-on effects on the EU.
Johnson needs to avoid the traps represented by hands of friendship from Trump and Farage and, after his sojourn among his party’s hardcore Brexiteers, return to being the kind of liberal Conservative he was as mayor of London. That represents his best chance to make a success of his term of office. For when the effects of Brexit start to hit home, the UK may well need significant help from the government to get us through what may be a particularly difficult time.
Recessions are well-known as the breeding grounds of extreme politics and Johnson needs to be wise to that risk; he may need to make some new alliances and shed some current ones.
The global illiberal elite are trying to draw Johnson into their camp. If he wins the coming election, he must resist.