Farage Calls on Boris to Put Country Before Tory Party and Stand Down in Labour Areas

Nigel Farage, after his decision to put ‘country before party’ and not stand Brexit Party candidates in Conservative-held seats, has called on Boris Johnson reciprocate by standing down in Labour-held seats not won by the Conservative Party in ‘100 years’.

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage announced on Monday that he would stand down 317 candidates in seats won by the Conservatives in order to prevent a split in the pro-Brexit vote, however, Mr Farage is now calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ‘return the favour’ and stand down Conservative candidates in Labour areas where the main pro-Brexit challenger is Mr Farage, not the Tories.

Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, Farage said: “ “I would have expected, having put country before party, to perhaps have got something back from the Conservatives. But no, nothing is good enough for them.”

“It is clear to me it is not a Leave majority they want in Parliament, it is just a Tory one,” he remarked.

Far from signalling they would stand aside, top Conservatives have indicated they expect Mr Farage to make further concessions and stand down his candidates in Labour marginals to give the Tories a clear run — it is not clear whether the party would offer anything in return for these demands to be met.

Mr Farage believes that the Brexit Party stands a better chance that the Tory Party of winning over disaffected Labour supporters, particularly in the working-class areas of Northern England, whom he claims have been let down by the Labour Party, which he says has “completely broken their manifesto pledge in 2017 to respect the result of the referendum.”

Farage also believes that many working-class people in northern areas alienated by the increasingly metropolitan-focussed Labour party would be reluctant to support the Conservatives; a party which is seen by many as having a strong southern focus and like Labour led by urban elites who do not have their interest at heart, and who so far have failed to deliver Brexit.

Mr Farage said in some areas the Tories hadn’t managed to win a seat in a century, and it made no sense for them to block the Brexit Party potentially unseating Labour by splitting the vote. He said: “It’s almost comical. I’ve gifted the Conservative party nearly two dozen seats and I did it because I believe in leave. If they believed in leave, they would stand aside in Labour areas where the Conservative party hasn’t won in 100 years and will never win.”

European news agency AFP cites the remarks of one such former Labour voter, who said: “As an ex-Labour supporter we can’t vote [for the] Tories.”

“Everybody’s sick of Labour. My dad voted Labour, my grandad voted Labour and I voted Labour up to 2017. So many people around here are so let down on Brexit. [The] Brexit Party’s come along and that’s the one we’ll be supporting,” he added.

Mr Farage noted in his remarks Tuesday that it is imperative for the Brexit Party to be elected to Parliament, in order to hold Boris Johnson to account on delivering a ‘proper’ Brexit.

“Because too often over the years, recent years, the Conservatives have made promises and then back-tracked on them. So that’s our plan, we need to win some of those Labour seats”, he said.

Whether or not Mr Johnson will reciprocate and stand down remains doubtful, as the Conservative Party views itself as a national party and therefore must contest every seat as a matter of pride — no matter if this feeling may be misplaced and might not be for the good of the nation. That view may not be held by the Conservatives own members, however, as a recent YouGov poll found that 70 per cent of Tories and 80 per cent of Brexit Party supporters would back an electoral alliance.