Tories threaten deselections amid fears of secret Brexit Party deals

Boris Johnson appears to be losing his grip on party discipline as his MPs meet with Nigel Farage for potential electoral pacts. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA. - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

Boris Johnson is reportedly losing his grip on party discipline after it emerged that Nigel Farage is in talks with Brexiteer Tories to offer secret electoral pacts.

The pacts would involved Farage standing down his candidates in exchange for a successful Tory MP to back a no-deal Brexit rather than Johnson’s deal.

The moves threaten to undermine the Conservatives’ election promises, as Johnson has pledged not to work with the Brexit Party in any formal alliance, and to follow through on the Brexit deal he struck with the EU.

Arch-Brexiteer head of the ERG Steve Baker has told local Conservative party associations that any Tory engaging in Brexit Party talks should be barred from standing for election.

Baker told The Sun: “Any Conservative candidate who pledges to vote against Boris’s deal contrary to the manifesto should not be nominated.

“It is too late for self-indulgence and lack of discipline. Only by backing Boris and this deal can we move the country forward.”

Despite this, an anonymous “friend of Nigel Farage” told the Telegraph that the Brexit Party leader was “having those conversations” about electoral pacts.