Nigel Farage Demands Johnson Ditch Brexit Deal to Forge Election Pact

(Bloomberg) --

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage threatened to fight for every seat in the Dec. 12 election if Prime Minister Boris Johnson refuses to abandon his divorce deal with the European Union and commit to a clean break.

Speaking at the launch of his party's campaign at an event in central London on Friday, Farage said the “sell-out” deal agreed by Johnson on Oct. 17 “isn't Brexit” and he will make sure every voter knows that before they go to the polls.

In other developments on the campaign trail on Friday:

• Johnson hit back at President Trump's claim that his Brexit deal would prevent a U.K.-U.S. free trade agreement in future because it binds Britain too closely to EU rules. "I don't wish to cast any aspersions on the President of the United States, but in that respect he is patently in error," Johnson told Sky News.
• ITV announced Johnson and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will face each other in a TV debate on Nov. 19.

Farage is playing hardball. He wants to agree a “non-aggression pact” with Johnson in which Conservative candidates would stand down in seats where his party is well placed to beat Corbyn's Labour.

“There are around 150 seats in this country that are Labour-held constituencies that the Conservative Party have never ever won in their history,” Farage said. “The only way to solve this is to build a leave alliance across the country.”

Tory activists have warned that the Brexit Party could split the anti-EU vote, costing the prime minister's party seats it could otherwise win. Johnson rejected Farage's call for the parties to work together.

“Voting for any other party simply risks putting Jeremy Corbyn into Number 10, and the problem with that is his plan for Brexit is basically yet more dither and delay,” Johnson told BBC TV later on Friday. “This Conservative government has Brexit ready to go and to vote for us is the best way of getting it over the line as fast as possible.”

The Brexit Party topped the polls with 32% of the vote in EU Parliament elections in May and, while it is unlikely to win many seats under Britain's first-past-the-post electoral system next month, Farage is looking to cash-in on its power as a disruptive force.

Farage cited two recent by-elections as examples of places where “Leave” candidates could have won if there had been an agreement between the parties.

Canada Option

But he made clear the price for any agreement would be for Johnson to abandon his deal with the EU and either pursue terms similar to Canada's trade arrangement with the bloc or leave on World Trade Organization terms by July 1.

He compared Johnson's deal with the EU to a used car with a shiny hood but a failing engine. It's just Theresa May's deal with a new coat of paint, he said.

“This is Mrs May's appalling surrender deal. This is not Brexit,” he said. If Johnson refuses to ditch it, “by the time Dec. 12 comes along, the country will understand what's in it, they'll understand it's not Brexit. We'll make sure of that,” he said.

Johnson defended his agreement and said it would enable the U.K. to be a champion for free trade across the globe, expanding opportunities and providing certainty for businesses.

“It's a great Brexit. It's a proper Brexit. It delivers exactly what we wanted, what I wanted,” Johnson told the BBC. “It enables us to do proper all-singing all-dancing free trade deals around the world.”

What's Keeping Britain's Pollsters Awake Ahead of the Election?

While he aimed most of his fire at Johnson, Farage said he will travel to Labour heartlands in the north, the Midlands, South Wales and east London to target districts which voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum. Voters in those areas are alienated by Corbyn's indecision over Brexit, he said, adding that it's “lazy” to assume all Brexit voters are Conservatives.

Corbyn's policy of renegotiating with the EU and then holding a referendum on whether to accept his deal or remain in the bloc “represents nothing less than a complete and absolute betrayal” for 5 million Brexit supporting Labour voters, Farage said.

The Brexit Party is also in talks with individual lawmakers about not contesting their seats, Farage said.

He will be flexible with members of Parliament “who renounce the withdrawal agreement, who renounce the deal,” Farage said. “In cases where they say this we will view them as our friends, not our enemies.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Penny in London at tpenny@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Colin Keatinge

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