A compelling new biography of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage by Lord Ashcroft reveals that Farage's mother, Barbara, wrote a cross letter to then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson after the 2019 general election. She was angry that Johnson did not thank her son for standing down Brexit Party candidates in over 300 seats to avoid splitting the pro-Brexit vote.
Barbara Farage's Disappointment
The book, titled The Farage Factor, details how both Nigel and his mother were disappointed that the Tories did not reciprocate by standing aside in seats where the Brexit Party had a better chance. A family friend is quoted: "Barbara was so cross that Boris Johnson didn't have the courtesy to write a note to Nigel thanking him for acting in the national interest. And when Boris didn't even bother to write back to her personally but got some flunkey in Downing Street to send a bog-standard reply, she was equally annoyed."
Impact on the 2019 Election
The Brexit Party had planned to contest 600 seats but gave the Tories a clear run in 317 seats they had won two years earlier. This helped Johnson secure an 80-seat majority and a mandate to "Get Brexit done." However, Lord Ashcroft argues that the perceived betrayal of pro-Brexit voters damaged the Tory Party in the long term.
Missed Opportunity for a Peerage
Lord Ashcroft also reveals that if Johnson had offered Farage a peerage after the election, it could have ended his political career. "Farage has told friends privately that if Johnson had offered him a peerage after the election, there is a good chance he would have accepted it, thereby ruling himself out of any future political comeback," writes Ashcroft. "This missed opportunity to buy him off can be laid squarely at Johnson's door."
Analysis of Seat Splits
Tory analysis suggested that without Brexit Party candidates in about 20 seats where the right-wing vote was split, Johnson could have achieved a majority of around 100. In Hartlepool, for example, Brexit Party candidate Richard Tice received 10,603 votes, nearly three times the majority by which Labour held off the Tories. Ed Miliband and Yvette Cooper were among Labour politicians who owed their victories to the Brexit Party's presence.
A close colleague of Farage stated: "We thought the Tories might find a clever way of not standing in some other seats where the Brexit Party had a better chance, but they refused to help Nigel in return. Therein lies the reason Nigel would almost certainly never do a deal with the Tories again."
About the Book and Farage's Career
Lord Ashcroft's biography is the first major account of Farage, 62, who is described as one of Britain's most successful insurgent politicians. He is the only person in the modern era to lead two different parties to victory in successive national elections: UKIP in the 2014 European elections and the Brexit Party in 2019. With Reform UK currently performing well in polls, many expect him to lead the party to victory in the next General Election.
