Why an epic Farage landslide is looming

THE assumption among Ministers is that Theresa May will announce a delay to Article 50 if she loses Tuesday’s crunch Brexit vote. But in Downing Street there is mounting concern the timetable could be shunted back so far, it could skip beyond May 23 – the date provisionally scheduled for the next round of European elections.

‘If we get to the point where we’re forced to hold a fresh round of elections, it will be a disaster,’ a No 10 official tells me. ‘Farage and the Brexiteers would field a slate of Stop The Brexit Betrayal candidates, and they would absolutely clean up.

‘We’d be destroyed, Labour would be destroyed. It would be like a proxy second referendum. And we’d be handing it to them on a plate.’

Time to start making plans, Nigel.