Brexit Party boss Nigel Farage gives Boris Johnson a final 24 hours to make electoral pact with him
BREXIT Party boss Nigel Farage has given Boris Johnson 24 hours to make an electoral pact with him.
Mr Farage will reveal on Friday how many candidates he plans to field as Tory chiefs warn he could let Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn into No10 by splitting the pro-Brexit vote.
He had threatened to stand in all 650 seats but it emerged on Wednesday night he may slash it to just a few dozen.
A source close to Mr Farage said: “A Leave alliance would win a big majority.”
In a cryptic message, the Brexit Party told all candidates on Wednesday: “Important. Please all go DARK on social media.
“DO NOT respond to any questions about where we (are) standing, what the strategy or plan is from now on. Things will be made clear . . . very soon.”
It also emerged that two Brexit Party candidates are former Communists. Husband and wife John and Yasmin Fitzpatrick will stand in North Thanet and East Surrey.
The Sun can reveal that both stood for election for the Red Front in 1987, a communist faction which pushed a series of hardline positions including the reunification of Ireland.
A Tory MP on Wednesday night claimed the Fitzpatricks’ selection cast heavy doubt on how well Mr Farage’s new party has screened extremists from representing them.
Tory MP Mark Francois mocked the Brexit Party for selecting candidates “who were too Left-wing even for Jeremy Corbyn”.
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He said Bill Cash’s Brexit Party opponent had stood down out of respect to the Tory MP’s “years” of trying to leave the EU and urged others to ask themselves if they should do the same.
A Brexit Party spokesman said they welcomed candidates who believe in democracy, no matter their political background.
He added: “This is not an issue of left and right, it’s an issue of right and wrong.”
TORY FEARS ON MAJORITY
SENIOR Tory figures fear the party has an electoral mountain to climb — with even Boris Johnson facing a struggle to keep hold of his seat
The Conservatives are set to lose seats in the strong Remain areas of Scotland and London, but the PM must add nine more MPs than he drops to gain a majority of just one.
Former minister Ed Vaizey called the election a “huge gamble”. Health Secretary Matt Hancock added: “I’m certainly not yearning for an election, and haven’t been. But we have no alternative”.
Betting firm Sporting Index predicted the Tories will fall two seats short of a majority — with 324 to Labour’s 204, while the SNP will have 50 and the Lib Dems 47.
It also emerged yesterday the PM told his Cabinet last week that campaign chiefs have warned him his Uxbridge seat is on their “at risk” list.
He held it in 2017 with a majority halved to 5,000. The party has already spent hundreds this week on Facebook ads to target Uxbridge voters.
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