UK’s Farage withdraws Brexit threat to PM Johnson

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Hartlepool, United Kingdom, Nov 11 (AFP/APP): Populist Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage on Monday withdrew his threat to challenge the governing Conservatives at every seat in next month’s election, in a boost for Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Farage, a leading force behind the 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union, had faced criticism that he risked splitting the eurosceptic vote on December 12.

Instead, he promised to focus on seats held by the main opposition Labour party which voted “Leave” — although this could still see him take votes from Johnson’s Tories.

“The Brexit Party will not contest the 317 seats the Conservatives won at the last election,” Farage said on the campaign trail in Hartlepool, northeast England.

The former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) had earlier promised to field 600 candidates unless Johnson agreed to abandon the exit terms he agreed with Brussels.

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Farage said the deal, which has yet to be ratified by parliament, would deliver “Brexit in name only”.
But the prime minister refused and Farage has now given in, noting wryly: “In a sense we now have a Leave alliance, it’s just that we’ve done it unilaterally.”

Ignoring Tory-held seats, he promised to target Labour areas which voted for Brexit, seeking to capitalise on disillusionment with the opposition party’s stance.

Labour has promised a second referendum on Brexit, a call backed by many smaller parties in the House of Commons, with the option that it could campaign to stay in the EU.

Farage said his decision “prevents a second referendum from happening. And that to me, I think right now, is the single most important thing in our country”.

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.”

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