Politics

Brexit Party places 275 candidates after Nigel Farage initially vowed it would run in every seat



The Brexit Party has 275  candidates running in the general election after its leader Nigel Farage initially suggested it would target every seat in Britain.

In the run up to the nomination deadline there had been mounting pressure on Mr Farage  to stand down Brexit Party candidates in all but a few dozen constituencies to avoid splitting the pro-Leave vote.

He had already said they would not contest the 317 seats which the Conservatives had won in the 2017 election.

Therefore it was expected that there would be around 300 candidates running for Mr Farage’s party.

The number of candidates is confirmed amid a row over claims that the Conservatives offered peerages to senior Brexit Party figures, in a bid to get them to stand aside in the election.

Mr Farage has claimed he had repeatedly been offered a seat in the House of Lords, in an attempt to persuade him to “go quietly”.

He said that, when that failed, people working “deep inside Number 10” had tried to bypass him by going directly to senior Brexit Party figures and suggesting eight of them could be made peers – if they could persuade him to withdraw more of his candidates.

Boris Johnson flatly denied there had been any offers of peerages, saying that was “just not the way we operate”.

Mr Farage offered an apology to his supporters in Dudley North after accusing Brexit Party MEP Rupert Lowe of “disgusting” behaviour, after he pulled out as a candidate at the 11th hour.

Speaking to the PA news agency in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, following a campaign trail visit, Mr Farage said his respect for Mr Lowe had “gone completely”.

This was after he confirmed his withdrawal in Dudley North as Thursday’s 4pm nomination deadline passed.

The former Southampton FC chairman’s actions prevented the Brexit Party fielding a replacement candidate in the seat, which Ian Austin won for Labour by a 22-vote margin in 2017.

On Friday night, Mr Farage did not attend a scheduled event on the campaign trail in Wolverhampton due to “clashing commitments in town”, a Brexit Party spokesman said.

He had been expected to speak at the event in Willenhall.

Meanwhile, Mr Farage’s former party Ukip has 45 candidates, significantly down from the 378 at the last election.

Reporting by PA. 



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