tuesday, november 12 , 2019. the washington post eZ re A
BY WILLIAM BOOTH
AND KARLA ADAM
LONDON — British Prime Minis-
ter Boris Johnson’s chances of
success in next month’s election
got a boost Monday after Brexit
Party leader Nigel Farage offered
a truce.
Farage said he would not field
candidates for the 317 seats that
Johnson’s Conservative Party
won in 2017. That means that in
half of Britain, voters who hun-
ger to leave the European Union
will not have to decide between
a pro-Brexit Conservative candi-
date and a really, really pro-
Brexit Brexit Party candidate.
It represents a serious re-
prieve for Johnson, whose cam-
paign launch last week for the
Dec. 12 election was marred by
comments from prominent par-
ty figures who insulted the vic-
tims of a notorious fire and
played into criticism that the
party is out of touch.
Conservative Party leaders
had feared that if Farage made
good on his earlier threat to
fight for all 650 seats in Parlia-
ment, votes could be split be-
tween them, giving an advan-
tage to the opposition Labour
Party, which takes a fuzzy stance
on Brexit, and the Liberal Demo-
crats, who oppose leaving the
E.U.
But Farage backed down
Monday and said his focus will
be on beating Labour and stop-
ping those who support a second
referendum on Brexit, a position
endorsed by Labour, the Liberal
Democrats and other minority
parties.
“What we will do is concen-
trate our total effort into all of
the seats that are held by the
Labour Party, who have com-
pletely broken their manifesto
in 2017,” w hich supported Brexit,
he said.
Labour has had its own stum-
bles beginning its campaign.
First, deputy leader To m Wat-
son abruptly resigned. Then four
ex-Labour lawmakers urged vot-
ers to back Johnson and the
Conservatives to prevent Labour
leader Jeremy Corbyn from be-
coming prime minister.
Analysts spent Monday ad-
justing their electoral calcula-
tions.
John Curtice, a politics pro-
fessor at the University of
Strathclyde — who is considered
a savant after anticipating the
Brexit referendum outcome —
said that, on the whole, “this is
good news for Boris, but it’s not
as g ood as it looks.” He explained
that “Farage is not standing
down in seats that Boris needs to
gain from Labour.”
Johnson must top more than
40 percent of the vote to form a
majority government — and
avoid the perils of a hung Parlia-
ment or having to cast his lot
again with the one-issue union-
ists in Northern Ireland.
The Conservative Party is
seeking to win over Labour
voters who do not necessarily
like Johnson or the To ries but
who do want to “get Brexit
done,” as the prime minister is
urging.
These “Labour Leavers” have
been cast as white, mostly male,
working-class rugby fans living
in the faded industrial towns of
the Midlands and northern Eng-
land, who usually support La-
bour but do not like Corbyn or
his party’s stance on Brexit.
Elections in Britain usually
are not won or lost by the brief
campaign season. But there are
exceptions. In the 2017 general
election, the Conservatives lost a
20-point lead to Corbyn and his
youthful “Momentum” move-ment.
In 2017, too, 80 percent of
voters flocked to the two main
parties, the Conservatives and
Labour. But this election looks
much more fragmented, mean-
ing the two main parties are
vulnerable on various flanks.
Last week, three of the small-
er parties — the Liberal Demo-
crats, Plaid Cymru and the
Greens — agreed to a pro-
remain alliance, saying they
would step aside for one another
in 60 seats.
On the Brexit side of the
ledger, the truce with Johnson
may not be the formal alliance
that Farage wanted, but it is a
pact of sorts.
“We now have a leave alliance;
it’s just that we’ve just done it
unilaterally,” Farage said Mon-
day. He said his announcement
“prevents a second referendum
from happening, and that, to
me, I think right now is the
single most important thing in
our country.”
Johnson said in a statement:
“We welcome Nigel Farage’s rec-
ognition that another gridlocked
hung Parliament is the greatest
threat to getting Brexit done.”
Jo Swinson, leader of the
pro-E.U. Liberal Democrats,
tweeted, “ The Conservative Party
are the Brexit Party now.”
[email protected]
[email protected]Brexit Party’s Farage offers a truce,
boosting Conservatives in election
scott Heppell/reuters
Nigel Farage’s announcement means that Britons who want to leave
the European Union won’t have to decide between two candidates.Pass the plants
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