Election – Nigel Farage urged to pull candidates from Labour marginals to seal Brexit after handing 317 Tories free run

NIGEL Farage faced massive pressure last night to pull Brexit Party candidates out of marginal Labour-held seats — after giving all 317 Tories a free run.

Mr Farage yesterday said his party would not stand against any sitting Tory MPs.

But he immediately faced urgent calls to also withdraw candidates from Labour-held marginals such as Dudley.

Those seats are deemed crucial to Boris Johnson clinching a Commons majority on December 12, and then delivering Brexit within weeks.

Senior Eurosceptic figures blasted him for not going far enough to stop a Jeremy Corbyn government.

And last night Mr Farage — who claimed he had been offered a peerage by the Tories — refused to rule out doing so.

Asked whether the move to withdraw 300 Brexit Party would-be MPs was his final offer, or if he could stand aside in more seats, he said: “I haven’t even considered that at this moment in time. I’ve just taken 48 hours to make this decision. Allow this one to settle first.”

Mr Farage’s decision not to contest sitting Tories dealt a body blow to Labour’s hopes of taking advantage of the Brexit Party splitting the Leave vote.

But there are still fears in Tory circles that if the Brexit Party fields candidates in Labour-held marginals it will make it hard for Conservatives to win those seats.

Tory sources warned Mr Farage’s candidates still threaten them in around 50 Labour-held targets.

One Cabinet minister told The Sun: “So Farage accepts that a vote for the Brexit Party is a vote for Corbyn and a Second Referendum.

“But he hasn’t pulled out of the seats we need to win to defeat Corbyn and deliver Brexit.”

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith told The Sun: “It’s a good start but if they want to deliver Brexit they’ve still got to focus on the fact that if they divide the vote they’ll let Labour in.

“He’s going to have to go further. This is a game of two halves — we’ve had the first half and now we’re going to have the second half.

“The second half is where he gets to decide which seats he stands down from, and he’s going to have to stand down from some of them.”

NOT 'GAME-CHANGING'

At a launch event in Hartlepool yesterday Mr Farage said his party will now stand 300 candidates — half the number he pledged just a week ago.

He insisted his decision was driven by patriotism, declaring: “We have to put country before party and take the fight to Labour.”

Prime Minister Mr Johnson welcomed the move, saying: “I’m glad that there’s a recognition that there’s only one way to get Brexit done and that’s to vote for the Conservatives.”

But pollsters warned the move was “unlikely to be game-changing” unless Mr Farage also pulls out of key target seats for the Tories held by Labour.

Mr Farage was also urged to be open to further compromise by senior figures within his own party.
Brexit Party MEP Lance Forman said he should be prepared to stand down in more seats if the Tories reciprocate in Brexit Party-Labour marginals.

He told The Sun: “Now that the principle of not splitting the Leave vote has been established, it makes sense to follow this through as far as we can.”

'THEY THOUGHT THEY CAN BUY ME'

Mr Farage’s former Ukip deputy Suzanne Evans said: “He should have gone further. He needs to rethink his strategy.

There was a lot of push-back when Nigel announced he was standing 600 candidates — internally people were describing it as ridiculous.”

Patrick O’Flynn, who served alongside him as a Ukip MEP, added: “The Brexit party should be playing a 100 strategy and identifying themselves as a party of coastal and coalfield towns.”

Mr Farage said his decision was sparked by fears he could split the vote in much of England, letting in Lib Dem MPs. He said: “What I could not be responsible for is helping to build a majority for a Second Referendum.”

Mr Farage repeatedly insisted he hadn’t received any promises, either formal or informal, from the Tories in return for making the decision.

But he claimed he had been offered a peerage on Friday in return for helping the Tories to victory, but that he was “not interested”. He said: “Ridiculous — the thought they can buy me, a high-paid job; but I’m not interested, I don’t want to know.”

'UNILATERAL DECISION'

He added Mr Johnson’s pledge to pursue a “Super Canada” trade deal in a Twitter video on Sunday evening had been a crucial factor.

He also did not rule out that his party had coordinated with No 10 on the PM’s video message. Asked if it was arranged for his benefit, he said: “All I’m saying is I was pleased to see a change of direction. There was no deal, no guarantee. This was a unilateral decision.

“The fact they put a video up to help me make that decision is a positive.” A senior ERG member said the video was “coordinated” with the Brexit Party and predicted Mr Farage will stand down more candidates this week.

Mr Farage admitted many of his candidates who have been dropped would be “upset” at the decision, which they learned about from TV.

He said he made the decision after consulting with party chairman Richard Tice but insisted he had not spoken to the PM about it.

There were signs yesterday that an informal pact could come to pass, with the Tory candidate in Hartlepool announcing he is standing down. Ralph Ward-Jackson withdrew his name from the race, saying he did not want to split the Leave vote in the town.

Polling guru Sir John Curtice said Mr Farage’s offer “doesn’t really give the PM the prize he would want” of a “free run against” Labour in key marginals.

Yet bookies Sporting Index last night predicted Mr Johnson will now pick up 341 seats — enough for a majority of 15.

But he was dealt a blow as former Tory MP Nick Boles attacked his character and announced he is voting Lib Dem.

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