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Brexit (so-called) party supports Tories

(68 Posts)
varian Mon 11-Nov-19 12:55:05

Farage has just said his company will not stand candidates against sitting Tories. Has he been bribed?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50377396

MaizieD Mon 11-Nov-19 12:58:04

It's tactical. He's realised that doing that would split the votes.

crystaltipps Mon 11-Nov-19 13:00:56

The Brexit Party is washed up. That’s good news. Will Farage now be standing as he doesn’t have to rush around the country?

trisher Mon 11-Nov-19 13:28:01

What has Boris offered Farage in some dark back room to get this deal? My money's on the Ambassador to the USA. After all it's where he wants to go and he'd get paid for doing it. Not to mention rubbing shoulders with Trump.

growstuff Mon 11-Nov-19 13:33:18

I'll bet 50p Farage will be made a lord in the next honours list.

Riverwalk Mon 11-Nov-19 13:35:56

The Tories called the Brexit company's bluff - what a cowardly sh*t Farage turned out to be! grin

growstuff Mon 11-Nov-19 13:36:15

It's not good news if you don't want a Tory government because it will make it more difficult for the LDs to win their target seats and there's a small chance that Brexit & Co will pick up some Labour seats.

growstuff Mon 11-Nov-19 13:37:34

Of course he is and always has been.

Chestnut Mon 11-Nov-19 13:39:18

His priority is to deliver Brexit and has decided it would be dangerous to split the Brexit vote. I'm sure this was discussed but there's no reason to suppose this involves a bribe. Farage is prepared to do what it takes to deliver Brexit. The remain parties have been colluding in private so what's the difference?

crystaltipps Mon 11-Nov-19 13:39:44

It might have been more use to the Conservatives for him to stand down in the Labour held seats as they’re the ones the Tories have to win in order to get a majority rather than seats the Tories already hold. Or have I missed something? I don’t think Farage was promised anything - he knows the BP don’t have a hope of winning any seats so they are going after the softer targets to save a modicum of face.

Poppyred Mon 11-Nov-19 13:40:13

Phew! Great news!

varian Mon 11-Nov-19 13:41:04

I am disappointed we will only have one Brexit-Tory cadidate as the LibDems are strong contenders, but sadly some remainers may vote Labour or Green even though our local council is LibDem with no Labour or Green councillors so they should know they could newer win, but could easily ensure our dreadful ERG man gets back in.

Chestnut Mon 11-Nov-19 13:44:09

...there's a small chance that Brexit & Co will pick up some Labour seats.
grin grin grin grin grin There's a big chance they will pick up a lot of Labour seats!

varian Mon 11-Nov-19 13:46:57

Farage said he still believed the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated with Brussels would not deliver "the Brext we voted for" in the 2016 referendum.

However, he said he had been encouraged by statements by Johnson at the weekend saying he would not extend the planned transition period beyond the end of 2020 and that he would seek a "super Canada plus" style free trade agreement with the EU.

Farage said: "Last night I weighed up Boris' promises, and is he going to stick to them against the threat particularly in the South and the South West that we let in a lot of Remainer Liberal Democrat MPs?

"I think our action, this announcement today, prevents a second referendum from happening.

"And that to me, I think right now, is the single most important thing in our country.

"So in a sense we now have a Leave alliance, it's just that we've done it unilaterally."

Best for Britain chief executive Naomi Smith said: "Farage has bottled it and hung most of his own candidates out to dry.

"But by standing down Brexit Party candidates across the country, it's now more important than ever that Remainers use their votes wisely. Our next round of MRP will reflect this Leave pact.

"Our highly sophisticated seat-by-seat level data demonstrates that if just a third of Remainers use Best for Britain's tactical voting tool at this election, Boris Johnson will be prevented from winning a majority.

"Our best chance of stopping a nightmarish government delivering a hard and damaging Brexit is voting tactically."

www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/brexit-party-will-not-contest-seats-held-by-tories-1-6369076

growstuff Mon 11-Nov-19 13:49:52

crystaltipps A few people have done the sums and come up with slightly different answers.

One example would be the recent Brecon and Radnorshire by-election, which the LDs won. However, if you add the Cons and Brexit votes, they polled more in total. The LDs are going to have to fight harder to retain it.

Nearly all the LD target seats are currently held by the Conservatives, mainly those which voted to remain. A split "leave" vote would have helped them.

Personally, I don't think Brexit & Co will win more than a tiny handful of seats, but their influence will have been huge. That's been their history … cause maximum havoc without actually taking any responsibility for tough decisions, which governments have to do.

growstuff Mon 11-Nov-19 13:50:33

Well, we'll see Chestnut but I doubt it.

Riverwalk Mon 11-Nov-19 13:50:38

Farage is prepared to do what it takes to deliver Brexit

But he's been complaining to anyone who'll listen that the deal is not really Brexit!

MaizieD Mon 11-Nov-19 13:58:37

Hmm, Farage's Brexit vision. Changed somewhat over the years:

www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2019/11/08/when-he-supported-norway-the-brexit-policy-farage-would-rath

varian Mon 11-Nov-19 14:09:20

Thank you for this link Maizie, especially the Dominic Cummings blog where he stated "Creating an exit plan that makes sense and which all reasonable people could unite around seems an almost insuperable task. Even if one succeeded, the sheer complexity of leaving would involve endless questions of detail that cannot be answered," he wrote. "There is much to be gained by swerving the whole issue."

The detail of how Brexit would actually work was, basically, too hard a sell. If people had got a glimpse of the decades of difficult trade-offs and punishing stalemates through which we are currently living, they would never choose them.

Much easier to cynically promise simple, brilliant, no-downside deals, concluded over a cup of tea in one afternoon, then pin the blame onto someone else when they do not materialise. Ireland, the EU, May, Johnson, parliament, judges, 'Remoaners' - anyone would do.

trisher Mon 11-Nov-19 14:11:33

Oh come on surely no one realy believes that Farage has ever really wanted or believed in anything apart from the advancement of Nigel? He's worked out he probably won't get many seats so he's done some sort of deal. A title may be in the offing but I still think he'd like Ambassador as well.

suziewoozie Mon 11-Nov-19 14:12:00

Did anyone really think he was going to be able to find 600+.candidates that would pass the Twitter test?

suziewoozie Mon 11-Nov-19 14:12:54

Spot on trisher

Firecracker123 Mon 11-Nov-19 14:13:13

The Brexit Party is putting country before party.
They are targeting Labour leave seats.

Firecracker123 Mon 11-Nov-19 14:14:51

The Brexit Party will wipe the smile off Corbyn's face that's for sure.

suziewoozie Mon 11-Nov-19 14:15:07

Firecracker you should take up a career in stand up ???