Boris Johnson Falls Out With Trump's Best British Friend
Nigel Farage’s threat to field Brexit Party candidates in every jurisdiction makes the prime minister’s electoral calculations even more difficult.
Phone a friend.
Photographer: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images North America
When looked at in terms of current polling or political history, Nigel Farage’s British election ultimatum to Boris Johnson looks a bit like a cocky Little League baseball team challenging the World Series-winning Nationals. The Brexit Party leader told the British prime minister on Friday that unless he repudiates his hard-won Brexit deal, he will face Farage candidates in all 650 constituencies around the U.K.
Farage might be Donald Trump’s Best British Friend (the U.S. president called into his radio show for a 28-minute chinwag on Thursday), but who does he think he is? He has failed seven times to win a seat in Parliament; Johnson is the leader of the most electorally successful U.K. party in modern times. Farage’s recently formed party has seen its poll ratings plummet since May’s European election; Johnson’s Conservatives enjoy a double-digit lead over their closest rivals, Labour. Farage says he wants Brexit; Johnson has actually negotiated a deal and is going to voters with it in hand.