Nigel Farage hints he will start a new party if Boris Johnson ‘goes soft’ on Brexit
Nigel Farage speaks on LBC Radio. Photograph: LBC. - Credit: Archant
Nigel Farage has issued a warning to Boris Johnson that he will return to politics - with a hint of a new party - if he 'goes soft' on Brexit.
Brexiteer Farage said he was conflicted about calling for Dominic Cummings to leave his post before Brexit is delivered - because he believed it would lead to the prime minister taking a softer approach.
He said: 'I am terribly conflicted over this. We need Cummings to be there for the next few weeks, those of us that want Brexit. Because if he suddenly disappeared maybe Boris would go soft. We could finish up extending the transition period.'
He continued: 'So whatever I think about him is irrelevant. A big chunk of me says it's important that he's there. But another part of me can't help but think of things like that cock-and-bull story about going to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight.
'I mean, what do they take us for?'
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Farage also used the one-year anniversary of the European elections to claim that he is wiling to take on Johnson again if he does accept an extension or takes a softer approach on Brexit.
It follows the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier suggesting the bloc would be open to a two-year extension as focus turns to the coronavirus pandemic.
He tweeted: 'One year ago today The Brexit Party stunned the establishment and easily won the European elections.
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'Without us Mrs. May would have limped on and there would have been no Brexit on 31st January. Let us hope that Boris frees us from transition.
'Otherwise we will do it again.'
It was seen as a reference to his plans to launch a new political organisation, with Farage previously talking about forming The Reform Party as a rebrand for the Brexit Party should the Tories fail to deliver on their pledges.
He said: 'We might need to rebrand as The Reform Party. Definitely our appetite is for political reform. This country wants political reform. It's sick of the whole bloody system. Sick the whole lot.
'We talk about [Washington as] the swamp and we are beginning to talk about Westminster in the same way.'
Several local Brexit Party social media accounts have already rebranded as 'The Reform Party'.
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