LONDON • Brexit figurehead Nigel Farage announced yesterday that he will not stand in Britain's upcoming general election, in which his party is threatening to go head-to-head with Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives.
"Do I find a seat, try and get myself into Parliament? Or do I serve the cause better traversing the length and breadth of the United Kingdom supporting 600 candidates - I've decided that the last course is the right one," he told BBC.
Mr Farage leads the Brexit Party, which was formed earlier this year to fight the European parliamentary elections, emerging as the runaway winner. He has been a harsh critic of the Brexit deal reached between Mr Johnson and the European Union and has promised to place candidates in every constituency unless the Conservatives agreed to an election pact, something Mr Johnson again ruled out yesterday.
With the Tories relying on Brexit supporters to gain a majority on Dec 12, a strong showing by Mr Farage's party will threaten to split the Leave vote and open the door for the Labour Party.
He appeared to be in little mood to compromise, putting a two-page advertisement in the Sunday Express declaring: Boris' deal is not Brexit.
Mr Farage said he had "thought very hard" about whether to run again to become an MP. "It is very difficult... to be in a constituency every day and at the same time be out across" the UK, he explained.
People "need to understand that, actually, what's on offer is a close linkage with all the European institutions, a next negotiating phase of at least three years," he added. "So I'm going out across the country starting tomorrow."
During nearly three decades in public life, he has risen from a eurosceptic rabble-rouser on the fringes of British politics to a pivotal player who could make or break Brexit. Mr Farage, a member of the European Parliament since 1999, has tried futilely to become an MP on seven occasions.
Mr Johnson yesterday apologised for not taking Britain out of the EU by Oct 31, saying he was "deeply, deeply disappointed".
"It is a matter of deep regret," he told Sky News, before criticising Mr Donald Trump after the US President said Mr Johnson's deal with Brussels would prevent a future Britain-United States trade agreement.
"I don't wish to cast any aspersions on the President but in that respect he is patently in error," he said. "Anybody who looks at our deal can see it is a great deal... it allows us to have full, unfettered control of our tariff schedule."
Mr Trump on Thursday told Mr Farage that "under certain aspects of the deal - you can't do it, you can't trade".
British MPs gave provisional support for Mr Johnson's deal with the EU, but derailed the Prime Minister's plans to get the Bill through Parliament before the deadline day, leading him to push for the Dec 12 vote to break the impasse.
