Brexit Party MEP Ann Widdecombe, who is standing for MP in the general election, claims Downing Street made her the offer of ‘a role in the negotiations’ for Brexit, in exchange for standing down.
'I said I couldn't be flattered and buttered up and promised things'
— Victoria Derbyshire (@VictoriaLIVE) November 15, 2019
Ann Widdecombe, Brexit Party MEP, says she was contacted twice by someone at No 10.
Nigel Farage says candidates have been offered jobs and peerages to try to get them to stand down. https://t.co/LBlnAaJUsk pic.twitter.com/ODidfeSU5w
The Plymouth Sutton and Davenport candidate said she was offered “a role in the Brexit talks” by a Number 10 figure if she would agree not to stand in the general election.
The claim comes soon after Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage claimed he was offered a peerage in exchange for withdrawing his party from the race.
Speaking on BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show, Widdecombe said: “I can’t speak for anybody else. But I was rung up, twice, by somebody at No.10.”
She would not say who called her, but clarified that it was not Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings or the PM’s chief strategic adviser Sir Edward Lister.
Sir Edward is the official that Farage claims offered him a peerage.
Widdecombe said that the first call was to talk about her having a “moral obligation” to stand down.
She continued: “The second time, it was to say that if I did stand down, I would be offered – I quote – ‘a role in the negotiations’.
“Now I’ve no idea what that means, because I immediately said that I’ve played no role in the Tory party for a large number of years and that I couldn’t now be flattered and buttered up and promised things.”
She said that the Tories have put themselves in a “very difficult position” with the offer.
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