Why Brexiteers must reject the Brexit Party on Thursday

The Brexit Party, founded towards the end of last year by Nigel Farage in the run up to the European Parliament elections, has gained much traction and media attention in the past few months. A nascent party, only having existed for a few months, managed to beat both the Conservative and Labour Party in the aforementioned European election, becoming the largest individual party in the European Parliament. Many Tory Brexiteers, frustrated with former prime minister Theresa May’s inability to deliver a good Brexit deal, flocked to Farage and his cohort due to their no-nonsense policy on the European issue. I am ashamed to say that even I, one of the staunchest and most loyal Conservatives you might ever meet, flirted with the idea of voting for the Brexit Party (ultimately I didn’t). However, with the party now posing a threat to the Conservatives in the upcoming general election by splitting the leave vote in key constituencies, Brexiteers must shun this party of charlatans and reject Farage’s spin.

The most important reason for Brexiteers to reject the Brexit Party is, simply, they cannot deliver Brexit. The Brexit Party’s proposals are idealistic and completely detached from the reality of British politics. They propose a ‘clean break Brexit’ – essentially a No Deal exit – however, Farage and his chums must accept that, whatever the outcome of the next election, there will be no majority for No Deal in Parliament. We have a deal, and it is a good one. The naysayers and critics insisted that there was no chance the prime minister would be able to negotiate a new deal, that the EU would never reopen the withdrawal agreement, that they would never ditch the backstop; but, in under 100 days, Boris Johnson was able to do all these things and deliver a good deal for the United Kingdom. It isn’t perfect, but there is no such thing as the perfect Brexit deal. It is, frankly, the best deal we’re going to get. Politics is about compromise, and the prime minister’s deal is a good compromise.

The Brexit Party are projected to win zero seats in Parliament: a vote for the Brexit Party is, quite literally, a wasted vote. Voting for the Brexit Party runs the risk of splitting the leave vote in key constituencies, and this is not a risk Brexiteers can afford if we are serious about delivering on the 2016 referendum result once and for all. The Brecon and Radnorshire by-election earlier this year is a perfect demonstration. As the leave vote was split between the Conservatives (who won 38.9% of the vote) and the Brexit Party (who won 10.5%), Brecon and Radnorshire ended up with a Liberal Democrat MP – an MP intent on thwarting the will of the British people – with the Liberal Democrats taking 43.5% of the vote. If Brexiteers in Brecon and Radnorshire had backed the Conservatives and rejected the Brexit Party, the result would have been much more favourable to the Eurosceptic cause.

The Brexit Party is nothing more than a rebranded UKIP – a party full of closet racists, xenophobes, and hard-right views. Farage is the embodiment of UKIP – wherever he goes, UKIP follows; much of the Brexit Party is made up of those formerly involved with UKIP. Conservative Brexiteers cannot make the mistake of voting for a morally dubious party for the sake of one specific issue, especially when the much better alternative of Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party exists. We live in a liberal, tolerant country, and it is only the One Nation conservatism of Boris Johnson’s government that can, and will, take this country forward.

Kofo Braithwaite (Communications Director) is a second year undergraduate reading History at Christ Church.