'LONG OVERDUE'
Nigel Farage can’t hide anymore – he must FINALLY be held accountable, blasts Piers Morgan
Piers appeared with our star-studded panel of experts on Never Mind the Ballots
NIGEL Farage can't hide and must finally be held to account as he's predicted to become an MP for the first time, Piers Morgan says.
The Reform UK leader, 60, is on course to win the seat of Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, and become an MP at the eighth attempt.
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It comes as his party, formed in 2018, is on course to win 13 seats according to exit polls.
The result would place Reform behind Labour, the Tories, and the Lib Dems, but ahead of the SNP, who are forecast to secure just 10 seats.
But Piers, appearing on an election special of Never Mind the Ballots, said there is now nowhere for Mr Farage to hide.
He added: "Finally being held accountable, by the way, which he’s managed to avoid for a very long time.
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"I’m probably responsible for him running because he wasn’t running on Question Time and I forced him into it. Now he has to be accountable.
On a historic night:
- Exit polls predicted a huge Labour landslide of 410 seats
- Piers Morgan described it as a 'political and social earthquake'
- He told our Never Mind The Ballots election show that Sir Keir MUST deliver after the Tory disaster
- A battle for the soul of the Conservative party was already underway
- Cabinet Ministers including Jeremy Hunt and Penny Mordaunt were looking likely to lose their seats
- Mr Farage's basked in record swings to his fledgling Reform party
- The Brexit champion is on course to become an MP for the first time
- But Piers warned he can't hide and must finally be held to account
- Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson all-but claimed victory for Labour as she was elected
"That’s long overdue, Nigel Farage being held to account now.
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"He can’t hide behind saying they’re all doing it the wrong way about everything."
Piers was joined on our show by The Sun's former political editor Trevor Kavanagh, who suggested Mr Farage could "run rampage" in Parliament.
It's a social earthquake for this country & a disaster for Tories, Piers Morgan says
He said: "What does Nigel Farage do with this genuine platform that he’s now built in Parliament and will deploy, even though it may only be 13 seats, which is in fact quite a shock, he will use this to the maximum to leverage his position.
"And I think because Farage is the charisma that he is I think he will eclipse whoever is the next Tory leader.”
“We are looking at a Parliament in which Nigel Farage will run rampage and he’s up against a very wooden Prime Minister in Keir Starmer.
"He’s very thin skinned… this is where Farage is going to… as an MEP he really set the fire alight in Brussels and that is what he is going to do in Parliament.”
The exit polls suggest Reform will be successful in poaching many voters who backed the Tories in 2019, such as in Hartlepool.
Britain will wake up to 'political earthquake'
By Kate Ferguson, Political Editor Sun on Sunday
BRITAIN will wake up tomorrow to a political earthquake.
If the exit poll is right, Labour have stormed to victory with their biggest majority in their 100 year history.
It is a jaw-dropping turnaround from the dark days of the Jeremy Corbyn era of 209, when the party suffered their worst result in history.
The Tories look set to be decimated. The most successful political party in Europe has been reduced to just a rump of 131 MPs.
Be in no doubt - this is a nightmare for the Conservative Party. They now face the painful task of having to rebuild and choose a new leader.
But the big story of the night is Nigel Farage’s Reform party, who are expected to win a staggering 13 seats.
This political maverick has lobbed a grenade into Westminster - and he is only just getting started.
Reform is expected to win the key seat of Hartlepool - the Red Wall seat in Labour’s old heartlands which turned Tory under Boris Johnson.
Nigel, 60, the godfather of Brexit, is a charismatic leader well trained in waging war on ‘political elites’ from his days in the European Parliament.
He had run and failed to become an MP seven times before.
He has finally won on the eighth attempt - and looks set to have a dozen Reform MPs with him.
He has the [potential to change the face of politics forever,
Sir Keir Starmer and the next leader of the Tories - whoever that may be - should brace themselves.
But the party is also expected to claim victory in two Labour strongholds, Barnsley South and Barnsley North, which are currently held by Dan Jarvis and Stephanie Peacock.
Mr Farage couldn’t hide his glee after the exit poll.
Enjoying a cigarette at an election night party, he was photographed by The Sun grinning from ear to ear.
Speaking after the exit poll, Mr Farage said: “It’s been amazing.
"We’ll see what happens but if that’s the result that would be a massive first step for this — I’m going to call it a movement — a political party is only part of what we’re all about.
“This is a movement to represent ordinary folk, the silent majority."
It comes after Piers described the exit poll, which shows a Labour landslide, as a political "earthquake" and a "seismic night" for the UK.
Labour is predicted to take 410 seats, up 209 from 2019.
It will leave the Tories with just 131 MPs, down 241 from Boris Johnson's 80-seat majority five years ago.
Piers said: "It's an earthquake. This is a political and social earthquake for this country, the likes of which I haven't seen in my lifetime.
"I think first of all you have to say 'congratulations to Keir Starmer, who has taken the party from being completely unelectable under Jeremy Corbyn to being a party with this gigantic majority.
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"Of course there's now huge pressure on him to deliver on the faith that the elctorate has shown him.
"A disaster for the Conservative Party which cannot be understated. Whichever way you look at this, it's a seismic night."
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