Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has said that he is “100 per cent sincere” about a non-aggression pact with the Conservatives and has pledged to not stand candidates against the 28 Tory “Spartans” in the European Research Group (ERG) who opposed Theresa May’s soft-Brexit deal.
“We are not playing political games,” Mr Farage wrote in The Telegraph on Sunday, adding that he welcomed comments by chairman of the ERG Steve Baker who earlier this week called for an election pact between the Tories and the Brexit Party in the event of an election to stop the “Remain coalition”.
“Baker knows it is blindingly obvious that the Tories simply cannot secure seats in certain parts of the country that voted Leave, but that The Brexit Party would win there,” Mr Farage said, alluding to Labour Leaver constituencies in the North and Midlands of England and in Wales, with the politician having declared war on the Labour Party for abandoning its working class Brexiter voters to become the party of Remain and the party of the London liberal elite.
Mr Farage has called on Prime Minster Boris Johnson to agree to such a tactical pact, where each would stand down candidates if it benefited the other, but said that he would only do so if Johnson abandoned renegotiations of May’s withdrawal treaty and fully embraced a no deal Brexit — otherwise he would stand candidates in all seats across the country.
In exchange for Baker acknowledging the need for such a pact, Mr Farage extended an olive branch to Tory Brexiteers on Sunday by pledging to not stand candidates against the ERG’s pro-clean Brexit “Spartans”.
“My response is to say now we will not stand against any of the 28 who opposed that third attempt to put that dismal treaty through the House of Commons. And far from not standing against them, if we can actively help them and support them in their constituencies, we will,” Mr Farage told The Times.
“Any of those who did vote for this thing on the third time and now regret it bitterly and realise that it is the worst deal in history, anyone that says that they will not vote for any reheated form of Mrs May’s deal, we will also stand down our candidates there too,” he added.
The leading Eurosceptic also told the newspaper of record that with the help of the Brexit Party, the Conservatives could gain a comfortable 75 to 100 seat majority in a snap election, which Prime Minister Johnson will call for a second time in Parliament on Monday in an effort to clear the House of Remainers who continue to frustrate the will of the people.
Mr Johnson has ruled out before a pact between the two parties, with reports that the major objection to a deal with Farage comes from the prime minister’s senior advisor and former Vote Leave colleague, Dominic Cummings.
However, media reported on Saturday that some members of the ERG are already in talks with Farage and his party at the local level. And while Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid said on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show this morning that the Tories “don’t need an electoral alliance”, he failed to fully rule out a pact with the Brexit Party when asked directly four times.