Election gift for PM Johnson: Brexit Party stands down in Conservative seats

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Election gift for PM Johnson: Brexit Party stands down in Conservative seats

By Scott Heppell

 

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage speaks during a general election campaign event in Hartlepool, Britain, November 11, 2019. REUTERS/Scott Heppell

 

HARTLEPOOL, England (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson won the most significant boost of the British election campaign to date when Nigel Farage's Brexit Party pulled out of 317 Conservative-held seats in a bid to prevent opponents of Brexit controlling the next parliament.

 

The move dramatically increases the chances that Johnson will stay prime minister, and then finally deliver on the 2016 referendum result to take Britain out of the European Union.

 

Farage said Brexit was in peril, so he would focus his party's efforts at unseating opponents of leaving the EU - primarily in seats held by the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats.

 

The United Kingdom voted by 52%-48% in 2016 to quit the EU, albeit without deciding how it would be done. But parliament has been deadlocked since a 2017 snap election over how, when and even whether to leave.

 

A week ago, Farage had promised to field 600 candidates unless Johnson went for a "no-deal" Brexit.

 

But on Monday, he said his party will now "concentrate our total effort into all of the seats that are held by the Labour Party, who have completely broken their manifesto in 2017," he said. "We will also take on the rest of the 'remainer' parties."

 

Sterling leapt as much as 1% against the U.S. dollar after Farage's announcement, and hit a six-month high against the euro.

 

The Brexit Party's threat to Johnson was one of the most unpredictable elements of the election: Farage has transformed British politics over a decade by poaching Conservative voters to force a succession of prime ministers towards ever tougher positions on Europe.

 

But in what amounts to a non-aggression pledge and an endorsement of sorts from the man cast by supporters as the godfather of Brexit, Farage spared Johnson the prospect of a right-wing challenge in almost half Britain's 650 constituencies.

 

His Brexit Party will still run in seats held by the opposition Labour Party, opening up the possibility that he could yet be a kingmaker with just a few seats in a hung parliament.

 

Although the Conservatives are hoping to seize traditional Labour seats in northern England that are heavily pro-Brexit, analysts had said Farage posed a bigger threat to the Conservatives than to Labour.

 

BACKING FOR JOHNSON'S APPROACH

Johnson welcomed Farage's move, which rivals said made the Conservatives in effect an ally of Farage's hard-Brexit party.

 

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said the move meant Farage's friend U.S. President Donald Trump had got his wish - shared on a live radio interview with Farage - for an alliance between Farage and Johnson.

 

Farage said Trump would be "very, very pleased" to hear of the move, stemming from Johnson's promise to go for a Canada-style trade deal with the EU.

Sara Hobolt, a professor who specialises in polling at the London School of Economics, said: "If I was Boris Johnson, I would be pretty pleased by this."

 

Farage began the campaign last week by warning Johnson that he could snatch away a Conservative victory. But he came under intense pressure from financial backers who feared that Farage might scupper Brexit altogether.

 

After weeks of complaining about Johnson's Brexit deal, he said a video showing Johnson pledging not to extend the post-Brexit transition period beyond the end of 2020 had changed his mind.

 

"I thought to myself overnight, that actually sounds a bit more like the Brexit that we voted for," said Farage, 55.

 

It was a rare compromise for a man who has made a career out of forcing the hand of Conservative prime ministers.

 

The perceived electoral threat to the Conservatives from the United Kingdom Independence Party that Farage used to lead was one of the main reasons why then-prime minister David Cameron decided in 2013 to promise the Brexit referendum.

 

Shunned by the political establishment, Farage, backed by eurosceptic financiers, helped sell Brexit to voters in England and Wales who felt ignored by Conservative and Labour alike.

 

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-12

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[Orac]

 

 

[evadgib]

16 minutes ago, Orac said:

 

 

That'll have Gina miller donning her running spikes! ????

[yodsak]

[edwinchester]

Craven opportunist who knows Brexit and UKIP parties are on a hiding to nothing.

[Jip99]

5 minutes ago, edwinchester said:

Craven opportunist who knows Brexit and UKIP parties are on a hiding to nothing.

 

5 - 10m votes are not to be sniffed at.

[RuamRudy]

1 hour ago, Jip99 said:

 

5 - 10m votes are not to be sniffed at.

Neither is a peerage, it would seem.

[nauseus]

^{Ah. Finally!} 

[nauseus]

2 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Craven opportunist who knows Brexit and UKIP parties are on a hiding to nothing.

Let's see who gets the hiding at election time.

[RuamRudy]

Looks like there are some of his own who are not best pleased with slippery Nigel.

 

[evadgib]

1 minute ago, RuamRudy said:

Looks like there are some of his own who are not best pleased with slippery Nigel.

My favorite quip so far came from Andrew Pearce a few mins ago who joked that Farage might just be UKs next Ambassador to the EU! ????

 

It would certainly explain his U turn.

[cleopatra2]

33 minutes ago, nauseus said:

Let's see who gets the hiding at election time.

In the places that Brexit party is still standing . Will the Brexit party be campaigning for or against the Conservative WA 

[Krataiboy]

A victory for common sense.

 

Boris's deal, as Farage rightly points out, is not the clean break many Brexiteers want. But better a compromise deal than no deal at all, which would result from a Remainer alliance winning the upcoming general election.

 

Once back in Number 10, Boris must concentrate on pushing through his Bill, speeding up negotiations on a new trade deal and finding ways to re-unify our horribily Disunited Kingdom.

[blazes]

Nice one, Nige.  The stronger pound you will inspire will make life in LoS just a little easier for most of us.

[MRToMRT]

4 hours ago, yodsak said:

Fair point but Exchange is not calculated odds on risk (thats on sportsbook). Exchange is the odds based on the individual betters combined together.

[MRToMRT]

Politics aside, why is the man just so damned unlikable? Even seeing a photo of him gives me the creeps.

[Jip99]

1 hour ago, RuamRudy said:

Neither is a peerage, it would seem.

Fair deal I would say, and probably obvious when he didn’t stand as an MP.

 

I am sure they wouldn’t want Farage in the HoC.

[Chomper Higgot]

7 minutes ago, Jip99 said:

I am sure they wouldn’t want Farage in the HoC.

The voters have confirmed that in every Parliamentary Election he has stood in.

 

Maybe you believe somebody other than the electorate get to choose who gets to the HoC.

[Jip99]

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The voters have confirmed that in every Parliamentary Election he has stood in.

 

Maybe you believe somebody other than the electorate get to choose who gets to the HoC.

 

Pointless trolling post.

[tebee]

2 hours ago, RuamRudy said:

Neither is a peerage, it would seem.

Now I'm going to have to start campaigning for the abolition of the house of lords! 

[sawadee1947]

56 minutes ago, Krataiboy said:

finding ways to re-unify our horribily Disunited Kingdom.

How? 

With more lies? 

More promises? 

More Trumpcism? ????

[vogie]

Whatever the differences between leavers and remainers, we all have to admit what total self sacrifice of Nigel Farage to put his country before his party, it is just a pity that remainer MPs havn't done the same and we would have left the EU a long time ago. A truly remarkable selfless individual, truly worthy of a peerage.

[dunroaming]

Nigel as predictable as ever.  Conservatives are pushing for more concessions from him.  Why not just come out and say it...

 

"Nigel just go and crawl back under your stone".

[RuamRudy]

20 minutes ago, vogie said:

Whatever the differences between leavers and remainers, we all have to admit what total self sacrifice of Nigel Farage to put his country before his party, it is just a pity that remainer MPs havn't done the same and we would have left the EU a long time ago. A truly remarkable selfless individual, truly worthy of a peerage.

Post of the day - well done, you have me a big, post lunch chuckle. 

[WillyPlatt]

Oddschecker will give you the full election book.

Some of the press are not so sure how much it will benefit the Tories in the contested seats.

However, Farage thinks he will pull in Labour voters that would never vote Tory.

I think he has a point and many voters may just abandon the Brexit party and vote Tory.

The Lib Dems could have come through in a lot of the seats that are not now being contested.

For someone with Farage's ego it is a huge climbdown. No doubt arranged on the fringes.

Farage could end up being king maker and even if some of the more literate Brexit party candidates got in, it wouldn't be that bad a thing.

Their free market economic policies will be the same as the Tories.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is banging on about interference in the UK elections. She went out of her way to make the points, so no doubt someone has asked her to stir it up.

The bookies are rarely wrong. For those that cannot get the BBC'S election coverage in Thailand. Radio 4 will be covering the election through the night.

Prof John Sirtrees poll at 10pm has been very accurate in the past.

 

 

[jak2002003]

How is this democracy now in the UK?  It's all fiddled and done in sneaky underhand ways, and that is on top of the first past the post thing.  I have given up on the UK and am embarrassed to say I come from there now.  

[ivor bigun]

5 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Craven opportunist who knows Brexit and UKIP parties are on a hiding to nothing.

In your dreams only . 

[Thingamabob]

Not at all sure this is going to help the Tories. Possibly even the reverse. Or am I missing something ?

[nausea]

1 hour ago, MRToMRT said:

Politics aside, why is the man just so damned unlikable? Even seeing a photo of him gives me the creeps.

Glad I'm not the only one. As for running candidates in every constituency, that was always a pipe-dream. He knows it, Boris knows it. You don't pull credible MP material out of a hat, like rabbits. Boris didn't bite on his rather obvious bluff, so he makes the magnaminous gesture - it's not like he was forced to or anything.

[sawadee1947]

1 hour ago, vogie said:

Whatever the differences between leavers and remainers, we all have to admit what total self sacrifice of Nigel Farage to put his country before his party, it is just a pity that remainer MPs havn't done the same and we would have left the EU a long time ago. A truly remarkable selfless individual, truly worthy of a peerage.

It's truly a very sarcastic comment of your's.

First you got me to believe what you wrote but then I realised that you won't send such rubbish  ????