Thousands of Mail readers tell Farage’s Brexit Party to back off
BREXIT Party candidates have been deluged with thousands of emails from Daily Mail readers urging them to stand down.
As Nigel Farage prepares to launch his party’s General Election campaign today, he is under mounting pressure to pull out of the race in order to prevent a split in the Leave vote.
Last night another of his hopefuls announced she would not be standing against the Tories in next month’s election.
Elaine Adams said she was standing down as she did not want to ‘split the vote’ in Telford, a marginal constituency in Shropshire, adding: ‘We cannot allow the Labour Party into power by default.’
Mr Farage has said he will field candidates in more than 600 seats unless the Prime Minister agrees to pursue a No Deal Brexit.
But senior Eurosceptics – including increasing numbers of his own candidates – have warned the tactic risks denying Mr Johnson a Commons majority and putting the future of Brexit in peril.
On Saturday the Daily Mail made a front-page appeal to Mr Farage to put country before party and stand aside. The email addresses of 50 candidates were published for concerned readers to make their views known.
A Brexit Party source acknowledged it had led to ‘thousands’ of emails, with individual candidates receiving ‘dozens’ each.
Readers’ comments have included: ‘If Boris fails, there is no Brexit’, and ‘ Time to move on Nigel, your work is done and the country thanks you.’
Boris Johnson last night offered Mr Farage an olive branch, stressing that he will rule out an extension of the Brexit transition period beyond the end of next year and would also pursue a ‘straightforward free trade deal’ with the EU that was ‘not based on any kind of political alignment’ – two of the Brexit Party leader’s key demands.
Mr Farage, who is due to launch his party’s campaign in Hartlepool this morning, appeared to be sticking to his guns over the weekend but, as pressure mounted, he pulled out of an interview with Sky News’ flagship Sophy Ridge show.
His former donor Arron Banks said Mr Farage had become ‘boxed in’ and urged him to reconsider.
Writing in The Mail on Sunday, he warned that if Mr Johnson fails to win a majority next month ‘we can say goodbye to Brexit altogether’.
He added: ‘It is time for Nigel to be realistic. If he ploughs ahead and refuses to stand down his party’s candidates he will help Jeremy Corbyn form the next government.’
Former Labour minister Gisela Stuart, who chaired the Vote Leave campaign, urged pro-Leave voters to back Mr Johnson. She said: ‘What voters will end up with, by thinking they can keep Corbyn out by voting for the Brexit Party rather than Conservatives, is a hung parliament, two more referenda and possibly us not leaving at all.’
Eurosceptic Tory Andrew Bridgen, who has held peace talks with Mr Farage, said the outlook did not look good, with the Brexit Party warning him it will contest his North West Leicestershire seat.
Mr Bridgen said: ‘If they are standing against me, they are standing everywhere. It won’t affect my result but it is going to cost us some seats across the country, which could make the difference in a close election.
‘Nigel has won – we are on the brink of leaving the EU. The danger for him is that instead of being the hero of Brexit, he could end up as the villain of Brexit who stops it happening at all.’
In recent days Mr Farage has backed away from his insistence Mr Johnson drops his deal. Instead he is seeking a guarantee the transition not be extended and that changes are made to the ‘political declaration’ accompanying the deal to guarantee a hard Brexit.