Brexit leader Nigel Farage has signalled a softening towards the prospect of an electoral alliance between his party and the governing Conservatives, but has maintained the Tories as a whole had still failed to comprehend how badly damaging continuing to fail to deliver Brexit would be to them.
While Mr Farage listed a long set of conditions for presumptive future Conservative leader Boris Johnson to fulfill in return to electoral support from perhaps the greatest threat to a future Tory majority, the comments at a live discussion event Tuesday evening were the first time the Brexit leader had admitted such an alliance could be possible. Just hours before the comments, Mr Farage had asked rhetorically why he’d ever trust the Conservatives on Brexit, given the frequency with which top Tories have lied about and failed the public over the matter.
Describing the scenario in which he could see the Brexit party lending its support to the Conservatives, Mr Farage said a Prime Minister Johnson would have to press ahead with a full Brexit, rejecting Theresa May’s deal entirely. Foreseeing that this would probably result in the government being forced out of power through a no-confidence motion by Britain’s remain-dominated Parliament, Mr Farage said:
…if Boris said we’re ditching this terrible treaty. It’s the worst deal in history, I made a terrible mistake in voting for it… we’re giving Europe notice, we’re leaving on the 31t of October on WTO terms… if Boris did that, and he was prepared to go to the House of Commons, to be voted down and lose a motion of confidence, to go to the country in a general election on that ticket and with the support of people like me he would win a massive, thumping majority.
Confirming that he would support Johnson in this scenario to the Daily Telegraph political editor hosting the event, Farage replied: “yes, of course… If he was prepared to do that, of course I’d want to work with them, of course I’d do that. I’ll work with the devil if they’re committed to getting us a genuine Brexit.”
Farage’s comments come just days after Conservative Brexiteer Andrew Bridgen told Breitbart London in an exclusive interview that “Kingmaker” Nigel Farage could help the Conservatives deliver Brexit, and that would mean an electoral pact between the two parties for a general election he predicted could come just days before the official Brexit date.
Bridgen said:
To facilitate [winning the election] we’ll have to come to an agreement with Mr Farage and The Brexit Party. I think he’s a pragmatist. I told him: ‘You’ve got a choice Nigel. You can be the kingmaker. You can help us deliver Brexit. Or you can destroy the Conservative Party. But you can’t do both at the same time. Make your mind up what you want to do.’
Knowing Nigel as I do I’d really rather have him inside peeing out than outside peeing in.