The Brexit Party swept up some 32 percent of the vote in the European elections, which took place in the UK on May 23. The party, which was launched just six weeks ago, shot to the top of the polls on the back of voter frustration with the ruling party and the Brexit crisis. The Conservatives were punished by voters across the board, coming in fifth with a dismal 9.1 percent.
Could Nigel Farage be Prime Minister?
Nigel Farage told BBC Radio 4’s Today program: “It’s a heck of a job.”
He said the party was ready to head into a general election if the October 31 Brexit deadline wasn’t achieved.
He said: “The next date is October 31. That will become as big a day in people’s minds as March 29.
“If we don’t leave on [31 October], then we can expect to see the Brexit party’s success last night continue into the next general election.”
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Mr Farage said he had no faith in Boris Johnson or any of the other Tory hopefuls to deliver Brexit, and pledged to field 650 candidates to stand as MPs.
He also said the Brexit Party’s strong showing means they should be part of the UK’s negotiating team in the Brexit talks.
He said: “We’ve got some businessmen and women of considerable experience quite happy to help the government get ready for the 31st of October, by becoming part of that team.”
Mr Farage cast doubt on the next Tory leader, and said the contest to replace Mrs May would not produce a Conservative leader who would clearly state that October 31 was the hard deadline for Brexit.
And, he added, even Tories claimed this was the case, “I wouldn’t believe them”.
But before any general election can take place, Mr Farage will head back to Brussels, albeit now no longer tethered to UKIP.
A decisive figure in the European Parliament, Mr Farage will now find himself in friendlier company as the ranks of MEPs from populist and nationalist parties have grown.
And polls back home find him in with a chance if a general election did come about.
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A poll conducted by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft shows that many of Conservative voters who switched to the Brexit Party in the European election would remain there.
The poll took place across the UK over May 23 and 24, and surveyed 10,280 UK voters in the European elections.
When asked their voting intention in the next general election, one in three (32 percent) of 2017 Tory voters who switched to the Brexit Party said they would come home at the next general election, while 52 percent currently say they will stay with the Brexit Party.
Lord Ashcroft’s poll shows the Brexit Party neck and neck with the Conservatives with 18 percent of the vote, just a hair behind Labour, polling at 21 percent.
