Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Nigel Farage warns Boris Johnson he has just four days to ‘save Britain from the Remain alliance’… Nigel Farage today gives Boris Johnson a final ultimatum and warns the “clock is ticking” to secure a Leave alliance that will “finish off Labour for a generation”. The leader of the Brexit Party defied calls to step back – some from his own allies – and said Mr Johnson has until Thursday to compromise, when General Election candidates need to hand in their nomination papers. Otherwise, he warned, his party will field candidates in every seat in England, Wales and Scotland and Mr Farage warns the “die will be cast” for a split in the Leave vote. He has also challenged the Prime Minister to a televised debate. He said: “If Boris truly believes that he has a ‘great new deal’, then let’s have a debate…I will debate it with him anytime and anywhere over the next five weeks.” The defiant message comes after it emerged Mr Farage’s former allies in Leave. EU have spoken to 100 Brexit Party candidates in a bid to persuade them to stand down. Analysis suggests two out of every three Brexit Party voters comes from the Tories, although Mr Farage has insisted he is targeting the Labour Leave vote. Meanwhile, senior Tory parliamentary candidates today warn that the Brexit Party could end up destroying Brexit. – Sunday Express > Simon Elliott on BrexitCentral today: Put country before party and back the Leave-backing candidate best-placed to win where you live …as Ann Widdecombe warns ‘we’re running out of time’ amidst calls for the Brexit Party to move aside… Brexit Party MEP Ann Widdecombe urged Boris Johnson to agree to a “non-aggressive pact” with Nigel Farage as she warned “time is running out” to join forces pre-election. Speaking to LBC radio, Ann Widdecombe claimed the Tories would be “daft” to continue to reject an election alliance with the Brexit Party in Labour Leave seats represented by Remain MPs. She said: “We are running out of time. Nominations close next week. This is entirely now in Boris’ court, it’s not in Nigel’s court. “By standing in seats, whereas I say they wouldn’t vote Tory, and if the Tories are daft enough to split the votes in those seats, well, that’s down to them. “It’s exactly what happened in both Peterborough and Brecon. In the Peterborough by-election, we came within hundreds, just a few hundred of winning, the Tories got a few thousand votes but failed. Now if we’d had some of those thousand votes, we would have done okay, we would have won. And the same is true in Britain in reverse. The Tories came very close, we got a few thousand votes, but we trailed. Now, if they could have had our votes, they would have won. That is the sort of pact we’re talking about.” – Sunday Express …and Gisela Stuart appeals to Nigel Farage as she warns he risks thwarting Brexit by standing against the Tories… The former chairman of the official Leave campaign has urged Nigel Farage to support Boris Johnson’s efforts to secure a majority or risk scuppering Brexit altogether. Gisela Stuart, who was a Labour MP for 20 years, suggested that the Conservatives were most likely to deliver Brexit. Voters drawn away from the Tories to back Mr Farage’s Brexit Party could end up ushering in “a hung parliament, two more referenda, and possibly us not leaving at all”. Her intervention came after Mr Farage gave Mr Johnson a two-week deadline, which expires this week, to drop his Withdrawal Agreement or face hundreds of Brexit Party candidates standing against Conservatives. The Tories warn that Mr Farage’s candidates would draw support away from would-be Conservative voters. Ministers say that if Mr Johnson fails to win a majority Jeremy Corbyn will strike a power-sharing deal with the Scottish National Party involving a commitment to second referendums on Brexit and Scottish independence. Ms Stuart said: “Whilst in normal times I’m always slightly worried about arrangements between political parties, because deep inside me [I believe] the electorate ought to have their range of choices … what is different about this is that the Brexit Party is essentially the expression of one particular issue which it wants to be achieved. This is a party which at the moment doesn’t have a single MP and therefore if they really want to achieve their aim then they’ll support those who are most likely to deliver that aim.” – Sunday Telegraph (£) …as it is reported a Farage ally is in secret talks with the Tories… Senior allies of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson have held secret last-minute talks in an effort to strike a deal that would stop the Brexit Party splitting the Tory vote and letting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street. The Mail on Sunday can reveal that a close confidant of Mr Farage has held talks with senior Tory ‘power brokers’ over a deal to pull the vast majority of Brexit Party candidates out of the Election. In return, Mr Johnson would promise to strike a harder deal with Brussels after winning a majority. The offer, made by former Ukip treasurer Andrew Reid, comes as friends of Mr Farage say that he is ‘feeling the heat’ over his defiant insistence on fielding hundreds of Brexit Party candidates. Mr Farage is understood to have pulled out of a planned television performance this morning as a Mail on Sunday poll shows that support for the Brexit Party has nearly halved over the past week, from 11 per cent to six per cent. The secret talks are revealed today by Arron Banks, formerly Mr Farage’s closest political ally, who objects to his strategy. – Mail on Sunday …as polling guru John Curtice notes that the Brexit Party take more votes from the Tories than Labour Sir John Curtice has said the polling data suggests the Brexit Party will win more votes from the Tories as opposed to Labour. Several Brexit Party candidates including Peter Udale (Cotswolds) and Philip Walling (Workington) have withdrawn and urged others to do so as well in order to avoid splitting the Brexit vote. Party leader Nigel Farage will not be standing. Writing in the Telegraph, polling expert Sir John said: “On average the polls currently suggest that while 20 per cent of those who voted Leave are minded to vote for Nigel Farage, just one per cent of those who backed Remain would do so – and these are likely folk who have since changed their minds about Brexit! “This inability to reach beyond Leave voters puts the Brexit Party at a disadvantage compared with the Conservatives, who are able to claim the support of nearly one in five (18 percent) of those who voted Remain.” In the 2017 general election, Labour secured twice as many Remainer votes than it did Brexiteers. The Tories had between two and three Leave voters than it had Remain voters. – Sunday Express New poll shows Tories with a 12-point lead over Labour as calamity Jeremy Corbyn stumbles from crisis to crisis… Boris Johnson’s uncertain start to the Election campaign has not harmed his party’s poll ratings, with the Conservatives maintaining their 12-point lead from last week. The party’s early ‘wobble’ – with gaffes such as Jacob Rees-Mogg suggesting that victims of the Grenfell Tower inferno should have ignored fire brigade advice to stay in the building – has not hit their support. Their headline figure is 41 per cent, with Labour on 29 per cent – both up one percentage point from last week – with the Liberal Democrats up two points on 16 per cent. Support for the traditional parties has grown as backing for Nigel Farage has crashed. The increasing pressure on the Brexit Party leader to stand down his candidates to avoid splitting the Tory vote and letting Jeremy Corbyn into No 10 contributed to a plunge in the party’s support from 11 per cent to just six. If the headline results were converted through a uniform swing into Commons seats, they would put the Conservatives on 357 seats after the December 12 poll, with Labour on 208 seats and the Liberal Democrats on 21. But with one in four voters expected to vote tactically to the benefit of either Brexit or Remain candidates – the highest rate of tactical voting in any Election – pollsters are very cautious about making seat projections. – Mail on Sunday …although another poll suggests the majority fear the Christmas election will fail to break the Brexit deadlock Boris Johnson‘s pledge to use the election to “get Brexit done” is failing to convince voters, according to a new poll which shows the majority think a Christmas poll will not resolve the deadlock. Less than a third of people (29 per cent) believe an election will break the Brexit logjam, compared with an overwhelming 56 per cent who believe a new parliament is unlikely to make progress. The exclusive survey by BMG Research also reveals that a majority would rather stay in the EU than leave with the prime minister’s deal if offered the choice in a Final Say referendum. When asked to pick between Mr Johnson’s Brexit blueprint and staying in the EU, 41 per cent opted to remain, while 35 per cent backed the deal. Some 25 per cent did not know or would not vote. If offered a straight choice on the ballot paper between revoking Article 50 and leaving without a deal, voters picked scrapping Brexit by 42 per cent to 35 per cent. However, the prime minister’s deal won out (33 per cent) when pitted against no deal (20 per cent). In this scenario, the majority of people did not know or would not vote (47 per cent). As the election campaign got underway in earnest, the prime minister’s “people vs parliament” message appeared to be gaining traction with voters. The survey, conducted between 5 and 8 November, found 71 per cent of people believed MPs were responsible for preventing Brexit from taking place on 31 October, compared with 19 per cent who thought parliamentarians were not at fault. When asked the same question about the parties, 58 per cent blamed Jeremy Corbyn and Labour, while 26 per cent said they were not responsible. – Independent Prime Minister to quadruple the number of migrant workers who can take up seasonal jobs on British farms next year Boris Johnson is to quadruple the number of migrant workers that can take up seasonal jobs on British farms next year, The Telegraph can disclose. The Prime Minister has signed off plans to allow fruit and vegetable farmers to hire up to 10,000 workers from outside of the EU for temporary roles in 2020 – an increase from a quota of 2,500 in 2019. The move follows intensive lobbying by the National Farmers Union, which had warned that its members faced shortages of between 8,000 and 10,000 workers. It is likely to be cited by senior Conservatives during the election campaign as evidence that the party will continue to welcome migrants who will benefit the UK after Brexit. The increase in the quota has been overseen by Theresa Villiers, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, and Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, who has pledged that the post-Brexit immigration system will “work in the best interests of Britain.” – Sunday Telegraph (£) The variety of Remain tactical voting websites fail to agree on tactics Another major tactical voting site is launching designed to deliver an anti-Brexit parliament, with three separate campaigns now advising voters on how to help stop a Conservative majority. The Remain United site, led by businesswoman Gina Miller, who led the case against the government’s suspension of parliament, will make recommendations in constituencies where it believes tactical voting will make a difference. However, while tactical voting could play a key role in shaping the result of a volatile election, there are already concerns that the three sites disagree on which party voters should back in dozens of seats around the country. Under current plans, Miller’s site will back about 50 Liberal Democrat candidates. Another major site already up and running, run by the Best for Britain campaign, recommends about 180 Lib Dems. Remain United’s model suggests that the Lib Dems are likely to win only 33 seats if there is a significant tactical voting drive. A third site, run by the People’s Vote campaign, also launched this weekend with its own set of recommendations. Miller told the Observer that she had tried to see if pro-Remain campaigns could recommend one tactical voting site, but it had not proved possible. She said that her recommendations were based “purely on the data” and that the recommendations would be updated as the campaign progressed. – Observer Gina Miller launches tactical voting site for Remainers in bid for second referendum – Sunday Telegraph (£) Tony Blair ‘knocks heads together’ to try and stop feuding at the top of People’s Vote campaign spearheaded by his old friend Alastair Campbell… The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the former Prime Minister has stepped in to try to stop the bitter feud between his former acolytes at the body pushing for a second Brexit referendum. His intervention on Friday attempted to ‘knock heads together’ and end the unedifying public slanging match between some of his closest friends. The toxic meltdown at the top of the People’s Vote organisation was exposed last month when The Mail on Sunday published devastating leaked texts and emails that revealed the extent of infighting. On one side are former Blairite titans Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson, on the other their old PR ally, Roland Rudd. Last night a source said that Mr Blair ‘broke some eggs rather than bread over lunch on Friday in an attempt to sort things out’. – Mail on Sunday …as the campaign chief steps down over harassment claims as more chaos ensues The chief executive of the People’s Vote campaign has stepped down over allegations of harassment towards female staff. Patrick Heneghan, appointed in a “boardroom coup” two weeks ago, has been accused of acting inappropriately towards three women who work for the second referendum campaign. An email to the board if Open Britain announced that Mr Heneghan would stand down while the investigation is conducted. The email, from Anne Weyman, a member of the board, said that female staff “did not feel safe working” alongside him. It stated that Mr Heneghan “believes that the best thing, now, is for him to take a leave of absence for the period of the investigation” and said he intended to “clear his name”. A total of 16 women who work for the People’s Vote wrote a joint letter to the board of Open Britain – the organisation chaired by Roland Rudd, the businessman who has helped fund the People’s Vote – saying they feel “unsafe” returning to work while Mr Heneghan remained in post. Mr Heneghan is alleged to have called one colleague “fit” and told her she had a “gorgeous body”, however he insists the allegations are “false” and “politically motivated”. Campaign staff have since said in a statement: “Almost two weeks since Roland Rudd, the chair of Finsbury Lobbying, took a wrecking ball to the best political campaign in the UK, the person he imposed as acting CEO has been suspended. This decision will at least allow women, who warned the Open Britain board that Patrick Heneghan’s presence represented an unsafe working environment, the chance to re-enter the office.” – Sunday Telegraph (£) Meet the Brexiteer candidate taking on arch-Remainer Dominic Grieve in this general election An ardent Brexiteer has been chosen as the Tory candidate to take on Dominic Grieve in the upcoming general election. Joy Morrissey, who has criticised the “democratic deficit” within the EU, was last night selected by the Beaconsfield Conservative association to replace the former attorney general as their candidate. Ms Morrissey said she had become “more resolved in my Leave feelings” since the 2016 referendum and warned that people who voted for Brexit feel like their “voice isn’t being listened to”. The American-born councillor for Ealing – who once starred in a series of low budget movies – will now face a fight against Mr Grieve as he stands as an independent on a Remain ticket. The Liberal Democrats have agreed to step aside for him to avoid splitting the pro-EU vote, with their candidate Rob Castell saying it was import to row in “behind the leading Remain candidate”. Mr Grieve had the Conservative whip withdrawn in September after voting with opposition parties to block a no-deal Brexit. – Sunday Telegraph (£) Grieve campaigns to overturn his Tory majority – Observer John Curtice: How will the Nigel Farage factor affect this election? Nigel Farage claims his party can win over Labour voters that the Tories cannot reach. Many in the Conservative Party, in contrast, reckon all he can do by standing in the election is to imperil Boris Johnson’s chances of winning – and thereby potentially put at risk the prospect of Brexit happening at all. Who is right in this battle of the Brexiteers? One thing is clear. The Brexit Party’s appeal is almost wholly confined to those who voted Leave in 2016. On average the polls currently suggest that while 20 per cent of those who voted Leave are minded to vote for Nigel Farage, just one per cent of those who backed Remain would do so – and these are likely folk who have since changed their minds about Brexit! This inability to reach beyond Leave voters puts the Brexit Party at a disadvantage compared with the Conservatives, who are able to claim the support of nearly one in five (18%) of those who voted Remain. Even so, at the last election – as now – the Conservative vote consisted disproportionately of those who voted Leave. For every Remain voter who backed the Tories there were between two and three Leave supporters who did so. The balance for Labour was very different. The party secured the support of twice as many Remain supporters as it did Leave voters. – Professor Sir John Curtice for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Iain Duncan Smith: Only Boris Johnson can deliver Brexit and save the economy from Jeremy Corbyn The reason for the Brexit Party to exist is, of course to deliver Brexit – simple. Or is it? Surely nothing could be simpler, after all, it’s in the title – The Brexit Party – the Party of Brexit. Yet in the last two weeks, the party seems to have lost its way. Sadly, perhaps it is even now at risk of becoming the ‘No Brexit Party.’ The issue at the core of this is a decision which Brexit Party candidates must make this week – a profound yet simple decision: do they want to debate a vainglorious and purist argument on Brexit or do they really want to deliver Brexit itself? Nigel Farage’s claim that the Brexit Party will hurt second-referendum-backing Labour more than the Conservatives beggars belief. The highly respected election expert Professor John Curtice has found that for every one Labour voter that says they will vote for the Brexit Party, there are two Conservative voters who will switch their vote if Brexit candidates stand. Ironically, for all the razzmatazz, The Brexit Party cannot deliver Brexit. They cannot come anywhere close to winning a majority, or possibly even clinch a single seat. But one thing is certain, they could keep the Conservatives out of power, delivering Corbyn and destroy the prospect of Brexit forever. After all, with Boris at the helm, there is only one Party that can deliver Brexit: it’s the Conservative Party. That leads us to the inescapable conclusion that the biggest danger to Brexit in this election is a split in the Leave vote. – Iain Duncan Smith for The Sun Tony Parsons: Nigel Farage’s election threat is not a political strategy – it’s a suicide mission that could let Corbyn into No. 10 No, Nigel, No! The Farage threat to stand Brexit Party candidates in 600 seats will not deliver Brexit – but it could easily deliver Jeremy Corbyn’s Marxist rabble into 10 Downing Street. This General Election is the last chance for this country to make good on the 2016 Referendum result. Unlike Boris Johnson, I do not believe that the dither and delay will carry on if he does not return to Downing Street with a working majority. I reckon anything other than a Tory victory kills Brexit stone dead. If Labour gets in, Brexit will not be declared dead immediately. There will be some half-hearted nod to democracy with yet another referendum. But the fix will be in. If Brexit is not done NOW then it will just be a dead Brexit walking. If this country does not return Boris Johnson with an emphatic majority, then Brexit will have failed. And quite frankly, Brexit will deserve to fail. We have had years to get this thing done. Nigel Farage says he wants a “clean break” from the European Union but the only clean break I see Nigel offering is a clean break in Brexit’s neck. – Tony Parsons for The Sun Mail on Sunday: Time to step aside, Mr Farage, with your head held high It cannot be said firmly enough, or often enough, that the threat posed to the UK by a Jeremy Corbyn government is greater than any political or economic threat to this country in our lifetimes. People like Mr Corbyn do not normally get anywhere near real political power, for the very good reason that they are not fit for it. Their fellow Parliamentarians, who know them well, normally see to it that such people stay on the margins, where they can do no harm. It is only a series of accidents, fanned by the incompetence of the Labour Party’s ruling apparatus and its crazy voting system, which has put this unlikely man within reach of Downing Street. It is extraordinary how unfit he is for high office in our democracy. One of his closest aides, The Mail on Sunday reveals today, was courted by undercover Czech Intelligence operatives at the height of the Cold War. Concern about such things cannot be dismissed as mere party politics. It is remarkable how many Labour MPs or former Labour MPs, men and women who know him best, have reacted with utter dismay to his elevation to their party’s leadership. Whatever the polls may say, the risk is real. If the Tories do not win outright, no easy task after nearly ten years in office, a Corbyn-led coalition of some kind is frighteningly possible. – Mail on Sunday editorial Arron Banks: For the sake of Brexit and for the sake of our country, we must unite The millions of voters praying that we will finally leave the European Union can be forgiven if they feel concerned. They have every right to be. Brexit Party supporters distrust Boris Johnson’s deal and worry that it will betray any hope of a clean departure from Brussels. Conservative voters, meanwhile, fear that Nigel Farage’s decision to contest every seat at the General Election will split the vote so badly it could open the door of No 10 Downing Street to Jeremy Corbyn. If Conservative fears come true and they fail to form a Government on December 12, Labour has enough friends among the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats to form a pro-Remain administration instead. And if that disaster should take place, we can say goodbye to Brexit altogether. The stakes could not be higher, and while the Conservatives refuse to consider any sort of compromise with the Brexit Party, the outlook is bleak. However, behind the scenes a compromise has been proposed which would see Nigel ordering those of his candidates who cannot win to stand aside – but only on condition that changes are made to the deal that Boris negotiated with Brussels to stop us being shackled to EU rules. It is a proposal which I urge our Prime Minister to accept. As a lifelong Brexiteer and co-founder of the Leave.EU campaign, I believe there is no alternative. – Arron Banks for the Sunday Express Brexit in Brief New EU chief Ursula von der Leyen slaps down Macron amid shock fight for power in Brussels – Sunday Express