Farage: I'll stand candidates in every seat unless Tories agree to Brexit alliance
Nigel Farage has threatened to stand candidates in every seat across the country unless the Tories agree to form a "leave alliance".
Launching the Brexit Party's general election campaign, Mr Farage hit out at the "broken promises" of the Government after it failed to take the UK out of the EU on October 31.
He said Boris Johnson's withdrawal agreement was "not Brexit" and said he had hundreds of candidates ready to stand for election unless the Prime Minister took his advice to "drop the deal".
Mr Farage has proposed a "non-aggression pact" with the Government, where the Brexit Party would not contest Tory seats in Leave voting areas.
But he said the offer of an alliance would only stand if Mr Johnson scrapped his deal with the EU and joined him in pushing for a clean break Brexit.
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He said failure to do so would mean the Brexit Party would spend the campaign making sure every home in the country knows Mr Johnson's deal is "a sell out".
Mr Farage said that if no pact is agreed: "We will contest every single seat in England, Scotland and Wales. Please don't doubt that we are ready.
"Do not underestimate our determination or organisation."
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Other senior figures in the Brexit party are known to favour a campaign focusing on a smaller number of Leave voting seats that currently have Labour MPs.
But Mr Farage is believed to fear that such a tactic could lead to his party getting sidelined in the campaign. However, he conceded that by standing hundreds of candidates there was a risk of splitting the pro-Brexit vote.
The Brexit Party has candidates lined up for a number of seats across the West Midlands, including Dudley North, Walsall South, Walsall North, Stourbridge, Wolverhampton South East, Stafford, South Staffordshire, Edgbaston, Northfield and Telford.
They are set to find out next week whether they get the green light to stand.
Mr Farage said his party had enough money for a "fully funded" election campaign, but that he was flexible to "local exceptions" where Tory MPs were willing to reject Mr Johnson's deal.
"Already we are in communication with a number of MPs who are prepared to renounce the withdrawal agreement, to renounce the deal, and they themselves to stand on a ticket of a genuine free trade agreement or leave on WTO terms," he said.
"And of course in those cases where MPs say this, we will view them as our friends and not as our enemies.
"And more interestingly, already we are being approached to put together informal arrangements on the ground – constituencies in which they may have a better chance of winning and we won't bother to campaign, but equally constituencies in which we have got a better chance of winning and they won't campaign and that is already beginning to come together.
"But that is not the real deal. The real deal is a Leave alliance that wins a big majority in Parliament. The real deal is a Leave alliance that delivers a genuine Brexit."
Mr Farage said he would announce if he plans to stand in the election in the coming days.
A pact with the Conservatives – which was this week given the blessing of US President Donald Trump – appears highly unlikely, having previously been ruled out by Mr Johnson.
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick, said: "We are not interested in doing any pacts with the Brexit Party, or, indeed with anybody else.
"We are in this to win it."
He added: "We think that the new deal the Prime Minister has negotiated enables the whole of the UK to leave the EU customs union and that means that we can now strike our own free trade deals around the world."
