NIGEL Farage was dealt a major blow yesterday as three Brexit Party election candidates quit and a major donor switched sides to Boris Johnson.
It comes after Mr Farage bullishly confirmed he intended to run candidates in more than 600 constituencies.
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Two candidates withdrew over fears the Brexit Party could prevent Mr Johnson getting a majority, while a third dropped out for personal reasons.
Paul Brothwood stood aside in the marginal Dudley South seat, in the West Midlands, and announced he’s now backing sitting Conservative MP Mike Wood.
In a parting shot he warned Mr Farage his strategy of challenging the Tories across the country is “very dangerous” and risks letting Mr Corbyn in.
He said: “I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s leaving. I’ve come round to supporting Boris’ deal because it’s better than Theresa’s one.
“But what’s more important is defeating socialism. That’s the real risk of the Brexit Party.
“I would not want to be responsible for letting the racist Labour Party in, which would cause havoc to our public services, to our economy and to community cohesion.”
He added: “That would be a complete disaster and a betrayal of Brexit. I respect Nigel – he’s a good man but I think he’s got the wrong team around him.”
In a further blow a second prospective parliamentary candidate quit just hours later and publicly attacked the Brexit Party leader on Twitter.
Stephen Peddie, the party’s pick for Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, accused Mr Farage or pursuing a “fantastical and dangerous strategy”.
He said: “I resigned as a PPC because I worried the Brexit Party was evolving from a national asset to a national threat. I suspect I’m far from alone.
“We have ‘a’ Brexit only because of Farage, that doesn’t make it his to destroy along with our country.
“Given the Corbyn menace, PPCs must ensure they are still best serving their country.”
Dan Day-Robinson, who was standing in Devizes, Wiltshire, said he was quitting because his partner was pregnant.
DONOR SWITCHES TO BORIS
Meanwhile one of the Brexit Party’s donors revealed he would now support the Tories at the election, warning Mr Farage risked derailing the Brexit cause.
Property developer Jeffrey Hobby, who donated £10,000 to Mr Farage’s party ahead of the European Parliament elections in May, said he believed Mr Johnson was doing a ‘fantastic job’.
He added: “It is a shame if Nigel Farage wants to take him on across the country, I don’t think that is helpful for the Brexit Party, the Tory Party or the cause.
“For the Brexit Party to field candidates across all seats seems a waste of resources and not the wisest move.”
Mr Farage wants Mr Johnson to abandon his Brexit deal in favour of a No Deal Brexit which he has called a ‘Clean Brexit’.
He played down the defections, saying they amounted to “fewer than a handful” of his party’s candidates.
He said: “Any political party staring down the barrel of an election has that problem.”
FARAGE ON OFFENSIVE
It comes as Mr Farage vowed to “hurt Labour in the most extraordinary way” by personally taking the fight to Jeremy Corbyn in the party’s most “vulnerable” seats.
The Brexit Party leader announced he will tour Leave voting constituencies in the North, Midlands and Wales this week in a bid to topple Remainer MPs and help Mr Johnson.
Speaking at the launch of his party’s 630 parliamentary candidates he said Eurosceptic Labour voters who backed Brexit in “extraordinary numbers” were the “missing ingredient” in the election debate.
Mr Farage said: “Those five million are the most vulnerable group of voters to the Brexit Party in this country.
“I want the country to know the sheer extent of Labour betrayal. We are going to hurt the Labour Party in the most extraordinary way.
“They say that we will split the vote but we won’t split the vote because we’ll be the only people actually offering Brexit.”
He added that when he’d been leader of Ukip, they had done “far more harm” to the Labour Party than to the Conservatives.
But Leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg warned he was in danger of snatching “defeat from the jaws of victory” for the campaign to leave the EU.
He said: “It must be hard to retire from the field, but that’s what he ought to do.”
However Mr Farage – who offered to work with Mr Johnson in a “patriotic alliance” if he dropped his deal with Brussels – claimed the Tory plan was a “sell-out”.
US President Donald Trump, a friend of Mr Farage, has urged the two politicians to form an electoral pact, saying last week that Farage and Johnson together would be “an unstoppable force.”
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