Revealed: Nigel Farage's offer to support a minority Conservative Government

Blackleaf

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 9, 2004
48,340
1,650
113
Nigel Farage has revealed his radical plans for Ukip to support a minority Conservative government after the next election.

The UK Independence Party leader says that he is willing to make a deal with the Tories on the condition that they hold an EU in/out referendum before Christmas rather than in 2017. Current polls show that the majority of the British public would vote to leave the EU in such a poll.

The detailed plans for a hung parliament set out that Ukip and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) - which is also an anti-EU party - would work together to support the Conservatives on a vote by vote basis.

Ukip - forecast to gain up to six seats in the election (should be more but the voting system is rigged to make it easier for Left-wing parties to win seats on less votes) - would vote for the Conservative's first Budget, which would be the first major test of this new right of centre alliance.

Until now Mr Cameron has only said that he will have a referendum – in which he would campaign to stay in a reformed EU – by the end of 2017.

But just as the latest polls suggest that neither Labour nor the Tories will have enough MPs in the House of Commons to form a Government, Mr Farage has demanded that the vote is held by the end of this year.

Revealed: Nigel Farage's offer to support a minority Conservative Government


The Ukip leader would demand an in/out European Union referendum



Both Ukip and DUP would both work together to support a minority Tory government in the event of another hung parliament in May's election according to plans Photo: Stephen Simpson / Rex Features



By Christopher Hope, Chief Political Correspondent
14 Mar 2015
The Telegraph
1406 Comments


• Read Farage in his own words: I want an immediate EU referendum where my German wife is banned from voting



Nigel Farage has revealed his radical plans for Ukip to support a minority Conservative government after the next election.

The UK Independence Party leader says that he is willing to make a deal with the Tories on the condition that they hold an EU referendum before Christmas.

The detailed plans for a hung parliament set out that Ukip and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party would work together to support the Conservatives on a vote by vote basis.

Ukip - forecast to gain up to six seats in the election - would vote for the Conservative's first Budget, which would be the first major test of this new right of centre alliance.

Until now Mr Cameron has only said that he will have a referendum – in which he would campaign to stay in a reformed EU – by the end of 2017.

But just as the latest polls suggest that neither Labour nor the Tories will have enough MPs in the House of Commons to form a Government, Mr Farage has demanded that the vote is held by the end of this year.

He says: “The terms of my deal with the Tories would be very precise and simple. I want a full and fair referendum to be held in 2015 to allow Britain to vote on being in or out of the European Union

“There would be no wiggle room for ‘re-negotiation’ somewhere down the line.”

Mr Farage insists that he does not want a formal coalition with the Tories because his voters would consider that to be selling out. He also says he could not sit with the “ghastly” Tories in Cabinet.

His price for his support is set out in his new book The Purple Revolution which is being serialised in The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph this weekend.

In it he also reveals that he considers Michael Gove, the Conservative chief whip, as a close friend and a man he could work with.

Mr Gove is said to be attracted by leaving the EU and Mr Farage's revelation will fuel speculation he will campaign for exit in a referendum.


The Democratic Unionist Party, whose leader Peter Robinson is Northern Ireland's First Minister, may work together with Ukip to support a minority Tory Government. The pro-UK, anti-EU DUP are currently the fourth largest party in the House of Commons, after the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats

The four criteria which Mr Cameron will have to agree to governing the timing, wording of the question, eligibility of voters and the conduct and coverage of the referendum.

Mr Farage suggests that “given that it only takes a few weeks to launch and organise a referendum, it should be held in 2015” and as a starting point the question should be along the lines of “Do you wish to be a free, independent sovereign democracy?”

This is despite the fact that in an interview with the Financial Times last week, Mr Cameron said a referendum before the end of 2017 was unlikely “because there are quite a lot of moving parts”.

Under Mr Farage’s plans the four million EU nationals living in Britain on foreign passports – including his German wife Kirsten – should not be allowed to vote.

And an ombudsman should be appointed to police strict campaign spending limits and ensure coverage of the referendum is balanced, “even though the BBC will hate it”, he says.

Mr Farage says that “if David Cameron agrees to these terms … there is no question that Ukip would not do a deal.”

Mr Farage believes he can set out his stall because the electoral results will allow the Conservatives, Ukip and DUP to agree a “confidence and supply” arrangement for after the election.

The parties would need to have enough seats between them to make a majority, giving them the ability to pass key legislation in the Commons.

He says: “Depending on how many seats Ukip gets, I could see the Tories, Ukip and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) doing some kind of deal.”

The DUP, which currently holds eight seats and is the fourth-largest party at Westminster, has also said that a referendum would be a key part of their price for support and have ruled out joining a formal coalition.






Labour cannot win because the party has haemhorrhaged support in Scotland and the north of England, Mr Farage argues.

“I think that the Tories will be the biggest party when we wake up on Friday May 8,” he says but without a clear majority.

“The arithmetic says that they will need the support of two other parties to get the numbers up and ensure, for example, that they can get their Budget through.

“That is why I see a Tory/Ukip/DUP three-way deal was a possible scenario.”

Faced with a choice between another Coalition with the Liberal Democrats, or a looser alliance with the Ukip and DUP, Mr Farage believes Mr Cameron – who has to get the agreement of his MPs for any deal - will opt for the latter.

“Would Ukip wish to form a formal coalition with the Tories?” he asks.

“The answer is no. We are radicals; we want real change to help Britain get back self-governance and self-confidence.

“There are many other areas where we can make a contribution. But I have no desire to swap the short-term privilege of a ministerial car for everything that we have fought for.

“I would look to do a deal where we would back key votes for them – such as the Budget – but in return for very specific criteria on an EU referendum.”

A further complication in a formal Coalition is the personal animosity between senior Ukip politicians and their opposite numbers in the Conservative party.

Mr Farage says “a vast number of them hate us and I dislike them”, but he suggests that he would be willing to negotiate terms with Michael Gove, the chief whip and a long standing friend of Mr Cameron.

He says: “Most of the Tories are so negative, but he has always been the most civil. I would trust him across the table.”

He adds: “The last 18 months have changed my life: from back operation that saved me from becoming disabled to winning the European elections in May 2014 and then victory in two by-elections. This is our time.”

In extracts published on Saturday, Mr Farage disclosed how the effects of a plane and car crash, combined with incompetent treatment on the National Health Service which "almost killed" him, had left him with the body of a 70 year old man who could be registered disabled.

In the latest extract Mr Farage speaks fondly of his early working life in as a metals trader in the City of London, admitting that he once “lost a seven-figure sum in the course of a morning on the zinc market. Not a good day, and it was only lunchtime”.

Compliance departments had now “changed the whole culture of the City”, he says, adding: “They basically took the fun out of trading – and they also missed the point” because they failed to spot the risks of derivative trading.

He adds: “Do I miss the City? On bad days, do I yearn for the adrenalin, the buzz and the camaraderie? I miss what it used to be. I would loathe it now.”




* How did Farage persuade Reckless and Carswell to ditch the Conservatives?
* Would UKIP ever do a deal with another party?
* How have three near-death experiences shaped Farage's politics?

Twenty-one years after its formation as a single-policy protest party, and on the eve of what promises to be one of the closest, most exciting general elections in recent memory, the truly remarkable rise of UKIP and its charismatic leader, Nigel Farage, have caused nothing less than a tectonic shift in British politics. And the aftershocks are being felt far beyond the corridors of power in Whitehall...

This book, written by the man who orchestrated that extraordinary rise, is not an autobiography, but rather the untold story of the journey UKIP has travelled under Farage's leadership, from the icy fringes of British politics all the way to Westminster, where it is poised to claim the popular vote. In it, he reveals for the first time exactly how, over the last few years, Farage and his supporters have ushered in a very English revolution: secretly courting MPs right under the nose of the political establishment, in the tearooms and wine bars of the House of Lords.

With characteristic wit and candour, Farage takes us beyond the caricature of the beerdrinking, chain-smoking adventurer in Jermyn Street double-cuffs as he describes the values that underpin his own journey: from successful City trader to (very) outspoken critic of the European Union and champion of Britain's right to govern itself.






Revealed: Nigel Farage's offer to support a minority Conservative Government - Telegraph
 
Last edited: