It is a far cry from the adrenaline fuelled, angry and energised rallies of spring as just 100 or so
Brexit Party supporters gather in a Peterborough hotel to see
Nigel Farage speak.
Granted, it is 11am on a cold late autumn weekday, but the mood among the mostly elderly, white audience at the historic Great Northern hotel is downbeat.
It feels a long way from May, when Farage, backed by pumping
music and even more pumped up crowds, took his fledgling party to victory in the European
elections on a wave of anger at the delay to Brexit.
But now, with possibly the only bigger Leaver than Farage, Boris Johnson, in power and within touching distance of Brexit, the party looks to be fading away.
One of Farage’s warm-up acts, the high profile MEP Claire Fox, at least acknowledges that the
election campaign has so far been “tough”.
Her leader’s decision to stand down in 317 Tory seats has caused “heartache” for candidates and supporters, and voters even feel “disenfranchised”.
Fox admits “this is a tough time for us politically” and it seems apt as only muted applause greet the repeated praising of Farage’s “brave decision”.
Supporters in the crowd, who undoubtedly still love Farage, are also wary of his decision to continue running against the Tories in their target seats held by Labour.
Peterborough is one - a three-way marginal which Labour’s Lisa Forbes won on a tiny 683 majority as the Leave vote was split between the Brexit Party in second and Tories in third in a June by-election, when Farage’s young party was at its peak. I think what happened in Peterborough last time proved a point that the vote was split between Conservative and Brexit Party, hence 683 votes got
Labour inElaine, in her 60s, is concerned about splitting the Leave vote and letting Labour in again.
“That’s what we’re worried about yes.
“We know Nigel Farage did the best he could (standing down).
“We thought something might have been reciprocated but of course, arrogance and entitlement, it wasn’t.”
She adds: “We were hoping (Tory) Paul Bristow would stand down in Peterborough because Mike Greene (Brexit Party) did get quite a lot more votes than him in June but unfortunately it seems he’s not going to.”
Anna, 68, agrees: “Nigel seems to have taken a back step for some reason and I can understand it to a point because I think what happened in Peterborough last time proved a point that the vote was split between Conservative and Brexit Party, hence 683 votes got Labour in.
Farage’s personal retreat, choosing not to stand, has also caused angst.
“It’s a pity Nigel isn’t standing,” she says.
Mike Fletcher, an ex-Peterborough city councillor who “left them in disgust”, echoes criticism of Farage’s retreat.
“I was disappointed that he did stand down, but I understand his point of view, he knows better than me, but personally I think it was a bad move.
“I think we should have challenged them all the bloody way, get rid of the whole bloody lot of them.”
Now with nothing to lose, and perhaps with one eye on his preferred career as a transatlantic right-wing talking head, Farage at least seems more relaxed than last week when he came under immense pressure to effectively pull out of the election.
He sets his party a target of emulating the DUP, who with 10 MPs became kingmakers in the Brexit battles of parliament after the 2017 election, while suggesting Johnson is on course for a “small majority”.
And despite the concerns of his crowd, he defends his strategy by suggesting it was Ukip’s presence in Peterborough that helped Tory Stewart Jackson to victory in 2015 by taking votes off Labour, only for him to lose in 2017 as the party stood aside.
“Being Eurosceptic, believing we should not be part of the
European Union, believing we should be independent, believing we should control our borders and have sensible
immigration policies - these are not the preserve of centre-right Conservative voters, millions of Labour voters believe in these things, perhaps even more strongly than those in the Conservative party.
“And a large number of those Labour voters, they’ll vote for us.”
But many of those voters may ask why, when Farage has implicitly backed Johnson’s Brexit strategy by standing down in Tory seats.
And the disarray in the Brexit Party is highlighted again as Scottish MEP Louis Stedman-Bryce quits as Farage is speaking.The tough sell is exemplified by Fox, who praises the prime minister’s “clever” election slogan of “get Brexit done” - exactly what supporters here want - but then attempts to turn it against the Tories.
“For them, Brexit is a thing you just get over,” the MEP says.
“Boris has talked about a ready made meal and a microwave meal... there’s something about that, let’s put it in the microwave and get it done and dusted as quickly as possible - that makes me really suspect that Brexit is a hurdle so that they can take things back to the same old, same old business as usual.”
She added: “Leaving the Conservatives to do Brexit as quickly as possible without pressure means writing voters out of the script and thwarts any aspiration for change.”
Voters here may not trust Johnson but it’s difficult to explain to voters why it should not simply get “done” when many believe the
UK should have been out of the EU three years ago.
“I’m disappointed Nigel took a back step in 2016 because if he’d stayed at the forefront, probably it would have been done and dusted,” Anna says.
“I can’t understand why after the
referendum we didn’t just come out and then talk (to the EU).”
Elaine was also unsure about Farage’s decision to make way for a Johnson Brexit.
“I’m not sure because I don’t think we can trust Boris,” she says.
“I think Nigel was right to do what he did because if he hadn’t and the vote had been split and Corbyn got into Downing Street, who would have been blamed? Mr Farage.
“We’d all be emigrating if that happened, it doesn’t bear thinking about.” Make sense of politics. Sign up to the Waugh Zone and get the political day in a nutshell.
Fox did at least speak to a truth, as Brexit will not be “done” if the UK leaves on Johnson’s deal.
The real battle will come in phase two of the negotiations on the long-term trade deal.
And Farage is already sharpening his knives for yet another potential comeback.
“If we finish up with a Brexit where we go into three more years of negotiations, we finish up with a Brexit where everything from financial services to fisheries will be tied to EU rules, if we finish up with a Brexit where our state aid rules will be such that we couldn’t even help
British Steel or any other company, if we finish up so aligned that we can’t sign trade deals with the
USA or any other Commonwealth country, then it won’t be Brexit, will it?
“It will be Brexit in name only.”
But if
Britain does leave the EU, it may prove a comeback too far.Related... Tories Striking Election Pacts With Brexit Party Behind Boris Johnson's Back, Farage Claims
Boris Johnson 'Like A Child That Can't Get His Own Way' Says Former Tory Minister Billionaires 'Bankrolling' Tories With 'Obscene' Wealth, Labour Study Says