Farage: Tory Leavers Already ‘Backsliding’ on Referendum Outcome, ‘Effectively Selling Out’

UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage has raised questions over Boris Johnson and leaders of the official Tory-led Vote Leave campaign, claiming that he believes they are “backsliding” over the referendum result.

Mr. Farage implied the Tory figures are now siding with the Prime Minister to insist the UK should remain inside the free market with open borders forced upon it.

“We voted to take back control of our country and its borders”, the UKIP leader asserted. “I am worried it is being used as a smokescreen to do a different kind of deal. I am nervous, more nervous than I was on Friday morning”, he told Channel 4 News.

“I am beginning to hear noises, I am beginning to detect there may be some backsliding and I do not find that acceptable”, he said.

Adding: “We can control immigration, all we need is a Conservative Party government with the will to do it. And to hear someone like Dan Hannan effectively selling out… worries me greatly”.

 

Dan Hannan MEP is a member of the official Tory-led ‘Leave’ campaign. He, Vote Leave, and parts of the Tory establishment have long-advocated a “leave light” settlement, as first exposed by Breitbart London.

Vote Leave boss Dominic Cumming is on record saying that he thinks a second referendum is a “distinct possibility” and believes the UK should not invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which would guarantee Britain leaves within two years.

Mr. Farage has not spoken to Mr. Johnson, Michael Gove or other leaders of Vote Leave since the referendum. On the topic of the Tory leadership contest, he said: “I don’t care who the next Conservative leader is, as long as it’s somebody who will hold faith with that referendum result…”

Asked about the favourite Boris Johnson, he said he “has a lot going for him in terms of public appeal. But perhaps, some of the things he’s been saying over the next 48 hours indicate there might be a slight softening of his position.”

Yesterday, Mr. Johnson insisted that “there will continue to be free trade, and access to the single market”, and that there was “no great rush” for Britain to extricate itself from the EU.

“[Mr. Jhonson saying], just that, ‘there’s no rush’… can be fine. But does he really want to deal with this free movement issues? I don’t yet know the answer to that”, said Mr. Farage.

The UKIP leader also said he “condemned” some of the “deeply unpleasant” anti-migrant rhetoric, which the interviewer accused him of “unleashing” during the referendum campaign.

However, he argued that “the real prejudice is the prejudice that has been there for a decade… against anybody that dares stand up against the establishment; anybody that dares to say that we shouldn’t be part of the [EU]; and anybody that thinks we should even question immigration as an issue”.

“I think there’s nastiness on both sides”, he continued. “I think what we’ve got is an atmosphere, post the referendum, of very, very heightened feelings and some bad things being said on both sides”.