British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chances of securing a Conservative majority in the nation’s next general election just improved, as Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has withdrawn a slew of candidates.
Farage, who planned to stand 600 candidates in next month’s election, announced Monday that he will not contest the 317 seats won by the Conservative Party in 2017. Instead, his party has set its sights on challenging seats held by the Labour Party and “the rest of the Remainer parties” in an effort to put Brexit over his own party by setting up a “unilateral Leave alliance” to help Conservatives land a majority.
“The Brexit party will not contest the 317 seats the Conservatives won at the last election,” he said at a press conference. “We will concentrate our total effort into all the seats that are held by the Labour party, who have completely broken their manifesto pledge in 2017 to respect the result of the referendum, and we will also take on the rest of the Remainer parties. We will stand up and fight them all.”
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While Johnson is still a far cry from guaranteeing his party will win a majority of the seats, Farage’s rollback is welcome news for the prime minister, who said, “I’m glad that there is a recognition, that there’s only one way to get Brexit done.”
Farage hopes his decision will prevent the pro-Brexit vote from splitting and Conservative seats from being lost to parties that support remaining in the European Union. The move comes after he has been critical of Johnson’s Brexit deal made with the EU last month. It also follows President Trump urging the two to “come together” on Brexit. He explained his change of heart, saying he believes it will prevent a second referendum on leaving the EU.
“I have got no great love for the Conservative party at all, but I can see right now that by giving Boris half a chance … and stopping the fanatics in the Liberal Democrats — they even want to revoke the result of the referendum — I think our action, our announcement today prevents a second referendum from happening,” he said.
Other parties, however, trashed Farage’s announcement, with Labour Party Chairman Ian Lavery saying, “This is a Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson alliance with Donald Trump to sell out our country and send £500 million per week from our NHS to U.S. drugs companies. We urge voters to reject this Thatcher-ite 1980s tribute act, which would lead to more savage Tory attacks on working-class communities.”
Last month, Johnson secured a snap general election to be held in the United Kingdom on Dec. 12 after the EU approved its third Brexit extension this year, giving British lawmakers a “flextension” until Jan. 31. Before the election vote, anti-Brexit forces blocked a vote on Johnson’s Brexit deal with the EU, ruling out a no-deal Brexit by the end of October.
