Why Farage's Brexit Party election strategy was always doomed

The warning comes from former Brexit Party activist Bill Etheridge, who has today lifted the lid on the chaos that has engulfed the party over the past week.

In that time Mr Farage has stood down hundreds of his candidates in Tory held seats, failed to turn up one major rally in the Black Country and cancelled another, and seen several candidates quit to endorse Boris Johnson.

He also saw one of his top men, West Midlands MEP Rupert Lowe, pull his nomination in Dudley North at the last minute – a move which prompted Mr Farage to accuse him of "dreadful behaviour".

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• Comment: Underestimate the master of opportunism at your peril

Mr Etheridge assisted Mr Lowe in what he describes as an "informal advisory role" during his campaign in Dudley North.

He quit the Tories in 2010 and went on to become is a Ukip councillor and MEP, before joining the Brexit Party earlier this year.

Mr Etheridge says he has been involved in the majority of elections on a national, local and European level since 2005, but describes the Brexit Party's campaign in recent weeks as the most "shambolic" he has ever seen.

"I have never witnessed anything like it and I have maximum sympathy for the candidates who were forced to pull out," he said.

"Sadly they were set up for a fall. The whole thing was so badly organised that it resembled Field Marshal Haig telling his troops to march forward into machine gun fire."

Mr Farage initially pledged to field 600 candidates across the country, claiming his party would push for a "proper Brexit" rather than the PM's "dreadful" deal.

But he soon reduced that number by 317, claiming he had seen evidence of a Tory move towards a Canada-style trade deal in a video on Twitter.

It led to a furious response from many candidates, with some saying they never received any notification from the party over the decision.

According to Mr Etheridge, the Brexit Party's strategy over how many seats to contest had been a bone of contention from the very start, with "amateurs and hobbyist politicians" eventually winning the argument.

In particular he criticises party chairman Richard Tice, who he says has given Mr Farage "appalling advice".

'Don't have a clue'

"There was a strong view in the party that we should target 40-50 seats – seats where there was a strong Leave vote but which had a Remainer MP," he said.

"It was something that I agreed with, and by focusing on a smaller number of areas – some of which are places the Tories have never had any success – the Brexit Party had a big role to play.

"Some of the people at the top of the party are successful people in the business world who know how to do deals, but don't have a clue when it comes to running an election campaign.

"They have never put in the hard yards on the streets but have taken on senior roles they are not capable of doing. There was no understanding that you can go a long way towards winning an election on the doorstep.

"But they won the argument, and the party ended up trying a broad sweep of seats. Now they have been forced to stand so many candidates down and in the eyes of many people, look weak.

"It was a disastrous strategy that highlights the fact that no proper planning went into this election, which was mainly due to there being serious problems with the structure of the party and that people such as Richard Tice were given senior roles.

"They have ended up being detrimental to the battle for freedom and sovereignty – a cause which has been a lifetime thing for some people."

Mr Etheridge, who is no longer connected to the Brexit Party, said former Southampton FC chairman Mr Lowe had come into the election confident that he could win.

But he says it became apparent after speaking to people in the constituency that not only was he not going to win, he could also help the Labour candidate by taking some of the Leave vote.

"He felt that if he stood he would damage the Conservatives chances of winning and potentially lead to no Brexit at all," Mr Etheridge said. "Rupert is an honourable man and could not countenance that, which is why he took the action that he did."

Mr Lowe submitted his nomination papers to Dudley Council on November 13, before withdrawing them the following day just minutes before nominations closed.

Pleaded

In the days leading up to the move he had been in talks with a number of leading Black Country politicians, some of whom had pleaded with him not to stand.

He was criticised by Mr Farage over the timing of his decision, but it later emerged that he had been asked to leave it to the last moment by Mr Tice, who feared his withdrawal could lead to other candidates pulling out.

Mr Lowe has also rejected claims that he may have been offered incentives by the Tories to stand aside.

Mr Etheridge said that while he still admires Mr Farage – describing him as "the most influential politician of the last decade" – he fears he has damaged his reputation over recent weeks.

"The bad advice he has received... it has not shown him in a good light," he said, adding that he thinks the Brexit Party will struggle to win a single seat at the election.

"In 2015 Ukip were polling 12 per cent and ended up with one seat," he said. "The Brexit Party is currently polling around 6-7 per cent. They could be heading for complete failure and winning even one seat would be an incredible achievement."

Mr Etheridge is now endorsing the Tories. "I will be voting Conservative at this election," he said. "Boris Johnson's deal is far from perfect, but it is better than anything else we are likely to get."

A Brexit party spokesman said: "In oder for the party to remain part of the national debate, rather than being completely dismissed, we have to actually take part in the national debate.

"Equally, in order to keep the Conservative Party honest, it is not advised for them to have a significant majority.

"Frankly, whilst there is no doubt that Mr Johnson is a better option than Mr Corbyn, nobody has ever done well in life by trusting a word that the Prime Minister has said."