Nigel Farage today claimed a “packet of peerages” was offered by senior Conservatives in a “corrupt” attempt to bribe Brexit Party candidates into quitting the general election.
In an interview with the Standard he said “pretty senior” Tory figures dangled the gongs in a plot to guarantee Conservative election hopefuls a clear run.
More than a dozen cases have been identified, he claimed, where honours or offers of public positions were advanced. “That [dossier] is being compiled,” the Brexit Party leader said.
He went on: “This is corrupt. I think the honours system, in particular appointments to the House of Lords, the whole thing’s an outrage.”
However, the veteran Eurosceptic leader has been under pressure since he decided to pull out 317 candidates from seats that the Tories won in 2017, a move that boosted Boris Johnson’s campaign but precipitated a fall in the Brexit Party vote share.
Mr Farage defended his decision to withdraw from Tory-held seats saying he could not risk the Remain-backing Lib Dems gaining seats but vowed to give “no quarter” to the Conservatives in seats such as Dagenham, where the Leave vote in 2016 was 62 per cent.
“In seats like this, where we have real Brexiteers standing, we are certainly going to come ahead of the Conservatives and be the challenger,” he said.
But he then appeared to concede that in some other areas the Brexit Party would not try as hard, saying: “There’ll be other seats in which that’s different.” He gave the interview during a campaign visit to Dagenham & Rainham, a key London battleground where Brexit Party candidate Tom Bewick is vying with the Conservative leader of Havering borough, Damian White, to topple long-serving Labour MP Jon Cruddas.
He visited Brook Pie & Mash shop and chatted with regulars before meeting activists in the local pub. Asked if Boris Johnson was personally involved in the alleged abuse of honours, Mr Farage said: “I don’t know whether he even knows about this. My impression is he’s told as little as possible.”
Mr Farage, who has said he has been offered a peerage himself several times but refused, would not say who approached him. “I never name names,” he said, adding: “I don’t know why they bother as I’ve said no so many times.”
He could not say exactly how many offers had been made to candidates this time but said “it would be certainly” more than 12. “There was an offer of jobs in higher education, in the [Brexit] negotiating team and the prospect of a packet of peerages. I think there’s something just inherently corrupt about the system,” he said.
A Conservative spokeswoman said: “Neither the Conservative party nor its officials have offered Brexit Party candidates jobs or peerages. We don’t do electoral pacts.”
