Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Nigel Farage warned he has ‘48 hours to save Brexit’ as Leave donors call for him to pull further Brexit Party candidates… Nigel Farage was warned he has “48 hours to save Brexit” as a major donor to the Brexit Party urged him to stand down another 150 candidates in Conservative target seats. Arron Banks told the Telegraph that the Brexit Party leader had to “smash Labour in 40 or so seats where the Tories are nowhere”. It came as George Farmer, who gave £100,000 to the Brexit Party in May and June, urged Mr Farage to stand down half of the 300 Brexit Party candidates he plans to stand. However Mr Farage reacted defiantly, saying: “I put country before party yesterday and now will take the fight to Labour. Three hundred nominations have been signed off — time to get on the road!” On Tuesday the Conservatives rebuffed requests by intermediaries acting on behalf of Mr Farage to swap weaker Tory candidates into seats that the party has a realistic chance of winning. Mr Banks said that if the Brexit Party will not agree a deal then the two parties should stand “paper candidates” so the two sides would not campaign hard against each other in key seats. The multi-millionaire co-founder of Leave.eu said: “Nigel Farage standing down 300 plus Brexit party candidates, across the country to unilaterally create a winning Brexit alliance will go down as the most selfless act by a British party leader in political history. “We need to see further moves to stand down candidates in marginal seats they can’t win and go for the 40 or so Labour seats where the Tories haven’t got a hope. There are 48 hours to save Brexit and save the country from a Corbyn government.” – Telegraph (£) …but he calls on the Tories now to stand aside in Labour heartlands seats for Brexit Party candidates… Nigel Farage has insisted he will stand candidates in Labour-held marginal seats, despite coming under pressure from the Conservatives to step aside. The Brexit Party leader announced on Monday that his candidates would not run in seats won by the Tories at the 2017 general election. But he told ITV his candidates would contest Labour seats as they had “turned [their] back on Brexit”. Tory Chairman James Cleverly warned the plan posed a “danger” to his party. Mr Farage told the BBC that nomination papers for all his MPs will be submitted by 17:00 GMT, so after that, “the argument will be finished”. The Brexit Party had been due to hold a rally in central London later, but a spokesman said they had cancelled it as “we have already said what we needed to say”. The Brexit Party had planned to run candidates in more than 600 seats after Prime Minister Boris Johnson rejected an offer from its leader for a “Leave alliance” to deliver Brexit. But facing pressure from his own party – as well as the Conservatives – not to divide Brexit-backing voters, Mr Farage confirmed his candidates would not stand in the 317 seats won by the Tories at the last election. He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I made a big, generous offer to the Conservative Party yesterday [Monday]. I gifted them a couple of dozen seats.” Mr Farage later criticised the Tories for not reciprocating his move by standing aside in some Labour areas where the Brexit Party could challenge the incumbent. He told the BBC: “I would have expected, having put country before party, to perhaps have got something back from the Conservatives. But no, nothing is good enough for them.” He added: “It is clear to me it is not a Leave majority they want in Parliament, it is just a Tory one.” – BBC News …as senior Tories admit Farage is right to say a no-deal Brexit is still ‘on the table’… Two senior Conservatives have admitted a no-deal Brexit is “on the table,” after Nigel Farage hailed the threat as a reason for his “alliance” with Boris Johnson. The party’s deputy chairwoman and Theresa May’s former chief of staff both acknowledged a crash-out is an option in little over a year’s time – even if the Tories win the general election and pass the Brexit deal. Mr Farage pointed to the scenario when explaining his sudden decision to stand down Brexit Party candidates in all 317 Tory-held seats, in a significant boost to the Conservative campaign. Hours earlier, the prime minister had issued a video insisting he would not extend the brief post-Brexit transition period – during which the UK will abide by EU rules – beyond December 2020. Asked if “no-deal is back on the table now”, Helen Whately, the deputy chairwoman, said: “There is always a case of what will happen if there is a walkaway. “Of course there is always a question that you would walk away rather than have a bad deal.” And Gavin Barwell, Ms May’s former key aide and now a Conservative peer, said: “It’s always been there until you get the whole thing finally solved – that’s always been the case.” – Independent …while a Brexit Party MEP quits as a candidate in protest at Farage’s strategy Louis Stedman-Bryce had been due to stand for the party in Glasgow North East on 12 December. But he said he was quitting in the wake of Mr Farage’s decision to give the Tories a clear run in the 317 constituencies they won at the 2017 election. The Brexit Party leader said he wanted to create a “Leave Alliance” to kill off any chance of a second EU referendum. He also said he had been convinced by Boris Johnson’s claim that he will not seek an extension to the post-Brexit transition period, which is due to run out at the end of 2020. But announcing his resignation as a candidate on Twitter, Mr Stedman-Bryce – who is a Brexit Party MEP for Scotland – said he could not back his leader’s stance. He said: “I joined the Brexit Party to change politics for good and uphold democracy and I do not trust @BorisJohnson to deliver the type of Brexit I voted for. “I believe that the deal he has proposed would be devastating to our country and our future prosperity. So it is with a heavy heart that I have taken the decision not to run in the upcoming general election. Whilst I supported a localised agreement with the Tories in Scotland to help prevent the onslaught of the SNP, I cannot support standing down PPC’s across all Tory seats.” Brexit Party candidates who had been due to stand in Conservative seats have also spoken of their disappointment at being stood down by Mr Farage. – PoliticsHome Another Brexit Party MEP rages at Farage and vows she won’t vote in election – Express Boris Johnson vows to end Brexit ‘groundhoggery’… The UK cannot afford to “squander” more time deciding whether and how to leave the EU, Boris Johnson will say in his first major speech of the election. He will argue that ending the current “groundhoggery” will deliver a big economic boost and enable the UK to focus on creating the jobs of the future and tackling climate change. He has said a Tory victory will ensure the UK exits the EU on 31 January. Labour has said the PM’s deal is flawed and is promising another referendum. On a visit to the West Midlands, Boris Johnson will say Labour’s plans would only prolong the uncertainty for business and families – likening the past year’s political deadlock over Brexit to the film Groundhog Day, in which TV weatherman Phil Connors has to relive the same day over and over. “The UK is admired and respected around the world but people are baffled by our debate on Brexit and they cannot understand how this great country can squander so much time and energy on this question and how we can be so hesitant about our future,” he will say. “If we can get a working majority we can get parliament working for you, we can get out of the rut. We can end the groundhoggery of Brexit. “At this election the country can either move forwards with policies that will deliver years of growth and prosperity, or it can disappear into an intellectual cul-de-sac of far left Corbynism.” – BBC News …as the Conservatives enjoy a 14-point lead over Labour in the first poll since Brexit Party candidates in Tory seats were stood down Boris Johnson has opened up a 14-point poll lead over Labour after Nigel Farage’s decision to pull Brexit Party candidates out of Tory-held seats. A YouGov survey for The Times puts the Conservatives on 42 per cent, Labour on 28 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 15 per cent. It is the first time Mr Johnson’s party has been on more than 40 per cent in YouGov’s standard national polling since February, when the Brexit Party was officially launched by Mr Farage. The polling is the first to take account of Mr Farage’s decision to pull out of 317 seats won by the Tories in 2017. It suggests that in Conservative-held seats the overwhelming majority of Brexit Party supporters will support Mr Johnson.The poll will increase pressure on Mr Farage to consolidate the Leave vote by also withdrawing his candidates from Labour marginal seats that the Conservatives must win if they are to achieve an overall majority on December 12. – The Times (£) Tory lead over Labour grows as support for Brexit Party falls – Britain Elects poll – Evening Standard Ursula von der Leyen demands Boris Johnson appoint a new European Commissioner by the end of the week Boris Johnson was told by Brussesls’ top bureaucrat today to name the UK’s new European Commissioner by the end of the week despite his plan to make Brexit happen by January. Incoming Commission president Ursula von der Leyen today sent the Prime Minister a letter outlining her demands, after failing to get a reply to a previous demand last week. Mr Johnson said in July that ‘under no circumstances’ would the UK nominate a new commissioner but he is now set to perform a U-turn, with Downing Street yesterday confirming a new apparatchik would be appointed. Despite the impending UK election, the EU is keen to press ahead with the launch of its new commission on December 1, which will be headed by German Mrs von der Leyen, the first woman to hold that post. ‘This morning, the president-elect (Ms von der Leyen) has sent another letter to the UK government reminding it of its legal obligations,’ her spokeswoman Dana Spinant said. She added that London has already failed to reply to a letter from her asking it to name a commissioner and is expecting a reply to the new one before the end of the week. – MailOnline 100 wannabe Labour MPs in pledge to back Remain and defy Jeremy Corbyn… Jeremy Corbyn is facing a red revolt over Brexit as more than 100 wannabe Labour MPs pledge to back Remain. The candidates are willing to defy their boss if there is a second vote on our EU divorce – even if the party backs Leave. One hundred and twelve hopefuls, including dozens who have previously been MPs, are on the list, the Daily Mail reports. Ex-ministers like Margaret Beckett, Maria Eagle and Ben Bradshaw, plus recent Speaker candidate Chris Bryant are among the names. While more junior former MPs including Tulip Siddiq and Rosie Duffield are also on the list. Ealing candidate Rupa Huq tweeted the anti-Brexit pledge by activist group, Remain Labour last night. It says: “Labour is committed to a confirmatory referendum, to give you a final say on Brexit. “If elected as your Labour MP, I pledge to campaign to Remain in the EU.” Mr Corbyn, a life-long Euro-sceptic, has faced continued criticism for his party’s “muddled” Brexit policy. If he reaches No10, Mr Corbyn plans broker a “credible” deal with Brussels and versus remaining in the EU. – The Sun …as it is claimed Emily Thornberry is ‘at risk’ of losing her Islington seat to the Lib Dems Emily Thornberry is at risk of losing her seat to the Liberal Democrats due to Labour’s ambiguity over Brexit, it was claimed on Tuesday, as Jeremy Corbyn faces his own “Ed Balls” moment. The shadow foreign secretary, who is seen as a potential successor to Mr Corbyn by party moderates, is said to be one of several candidates deemed “at risk” in London. Ms Thornberry’s Islington South and Finsbury constituency, which neighbours Mr Corbyn’s seat, is one of the most pro-Remain constituencies in the country and would be considered a major scalp for the Lib Dems. A senior Lib Dem source told The Daily Telegraph they had seen a significant swing away from Labour in recent months due to concerns among Remain voters over Mr Corbyn’s approach to Brexit. They added that the Lib Dems were heavily targeting her seat, having repeatedly deployed poster vans in the area, as well as launching the official party slogan there last week. The source also pointed to the Lib Dems surge in Islington during the European elections in May, when the party secured 29 percent of the vote to push Labour into second place. Separately, a Labour Party insider told The Sun that local internal polling suggested that Ms Thornberry was now trailing the Lib Dems, despite winning a 20,000 majority in 2017. – Telegraph (£) ‘Remain alliance’ hit by candidates backlash over centrally-imposed pact… The alliance of Remain parties has been hit by a grassroots backlash by candidates refusing to back “opportunistic” nationally-imposed pacts. Some local Green and LibDem candidates have rejected the national parties’ pact and instead are either backing Labour against the Tories or refusing demands by their leadership to make way for their chosen Remain candidate. The Green candidate in former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith’s Chingford seat is now backing Labour even though the pact between LibDems, Greens and Plaid Cymru explicitly ruled out any deals with Labour because of Jeremy Corbyn’s backing for a Brexit deal. John Tyne, a Green activist, said he was “tactically withdrawing” from the contest and would instead work with Labour to overturn Mr Duncan Smith’s 2,400 majority. Meanwhile, Tom Meadowcroft, the Green candidate in the Tory marginal of Filton and Bradley Stoke in Bristol, has also rejected Green Party calls to support the LibDems and instead backed Labour. – Telegraph (£) Lib Dem candidate Tim Walker stands down in marginal to avoid splitting Remain vote but party says they will replace him – ITV News …while People’s Vote infighting escalates as PR chief Roland Rudd moves to force out Peter Mandelson The row tearing apart the People’s Vote campaign has been further escalated, as PR guru Roland Rudd moved to remove Peter Mandelson and two other directors from the board of one of its constituent organisations. Lord Mandelson hit back in a joint letter urging his friend of 30 years’ standing to “put country before ego” and step down immediately as chair of Open Britain to aid the battle for a second EU referendum. People’s Vote was thrown into disarray at the end of October after Mr Rudd sacked director James McGrory and communications chief Tom Baldwin just days after they helped organise a successful march which brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets of London to demand a referendum. The move sparked a staff walkout which paralysed the campaign’s activities just as the general election was getting under way. Plans for a potentially crucial, tactical voting-app to help pro-Remain candidates win seats were put on hold, as staff were locked out of offices and a new chief executive installed, only to step down days later over harassment allegations, which he denies. In their letter, Open Britain directors Lord Mandelson, Will Straw and Joe Carberry accused Mr Rudd of “doing Boris Johnson’s work for him” by provoking divisions within the People’s Vote movement and causing a breakdown in relations with other pro-EU campaigns. – Independent Remainer ex-minister David Gauke reveals he will run as an Independent as he voices backing for a second referendum… David Gauke, a Conservative cabinet minister only four months ago, today appeals to the party’s voters to deny Boris Johnson the chance to deliver a “very hard Brexit” as he announces that he is standing as an independent candidate. The former justice secretary told The Times it would be “no bad thing” if “traditional, long-standing” Tory backers lent their votes to the Liberal Democrats on December 12, but said he had the best chance of denying the Conservatives a victory in his constituency of South West Hertfordshire. Mr Gauke, 48, also endorsed for the first time calls for a second referendum, arguing that there was no longer any chance of uniting the nation around a “relatively soft Brexit”. Mr Gauke backed the Lib Dems elsewhere but could face a challenge from them in the constituency where, as a Tory, he won in 2017 with a majority of 19,550 and 57.9 per cent of the vote. – The Times (£) …while College Green’s shouty ‘Stop Brexit’ man Steve Bray will stand for the Lib Dems in Wales The activist is a familiar figure in Westminster where he regularly bellows his ‘Stop Brexit’ message through a megaphone outside the House of Commons. He has been selected to fight the seat of Cynon Valley in south Wales. It has been held by Labour for more than 30 years but its longstanding MP Ann Clwyd has retired and is not standing again. The Lib Dems have vowed to cancel Brexit if they win power. The party’s leader Jo Swinson dismissed suggestions Mr Bray’s candidacy was a stunt, saying the Lib Dems needed people prepared to put themselves on the line to stop the UK leaving the EU. “He cannot be accused of not being committed to his cause,” she said. “To have candidates who care so passionately about that is a positive.” – BBC News Toby Young: Why Nigel Farage should withdraw from more seats Nigel Farage did a noble thing yesterday in agreeing to stand down Brexit Party candidates in the 317 seats the Tories won in 2017. Unfortunately, it isn’t sufficient to safeguard Brexit. If he fields candidates in Labour seats, which is his current plan, he could still do enough damage to deprive Boris Johnson of a majority and put Jeremy Corbyn in Number 10. How so? Take the 317 seats the Conservatives won in 2017. Don’t forget, the Tories are now down to 298 MPs, so they’ll need to win 25 more to secure a working majority of 323. But in reality the party will have to make more gains than that because it won’t hold all of those 298. How many seats is it likely to lose? I think it’s a safe bet it won’t lose anywhere the Labour Party were in second place in 2017. But the same cannot be said of those seats where the Lib Dems and the SNP came second. According to my calculations, if there’s a 7.5 per cent swing away from the Tory incumbent in seats where the Lib Dems came second last time, and a 7.5 per cent swing to the SNP in those seats where the SNP came second, the Conservatives will lose 20 seats – ten to the Lib Dems and ten to the SNP. Factoring in those losses, the Conservatives will therefore have to win 45 seats to gain a working majority. Let’s assume the party wins back all 19 of the seats it has lost since 2017, including Brecon and Radnorshire which is currently held by the Lib Dems. That leaves the party still needing to win 26 seats. – Toby Young for The Spectator Ali Miraj: Will Nigel Farage snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? When the history of the Brexit-saga is written up, Nigel Farage, will loom large within it. He has devoted his life to securing Britain’s departure from the EU for almost three decades. If he has one eye on his legacy, then his decision yesterday not to field candidates in the 317 seats won by the Conservatives in 2017 is a sensible move. Enoch Powell observed that “All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure”. Farage has, to date, bucked the trend. If he is to avoid snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, he should go further and pull back from contesting Tory marginals where the electorate voted Brexit. Failure to do so could split the leave vote and allow Labour or the Liberals in. That potential outcome was seen in both the Peterborough and Brecon and Radnorshire by-elections where the decision by the Brexit Party to field candidates resulted in defeat for the Conservatives. There is also historical precedent. In 1983, the decision by the SDP to contest seats fractured the vote on the left enabling the Conservatives to win seats in the North and the Midlands that were key to Margaret Thatcher’s 144-seat majority. If a Labour government is elected, the choice in the inevitable second referendum that would follow, would be between a sanitised Brexit agreement and remaining within the EU. It is clear that Farage thrives in the cauldron of debate and has been highly effective at getting his message across to those he has sought to mobilise. He may well continue to have a contribution to make to public life as he is already doing with his broadcasting interests, but his time in active politics is drawing to a close. That is no bad thing. Even the rock star who has gone platinum must realise when it is time to work on the next album. – Ali Miraj for The Article Asa Bennett: Has Nigel Farage allowed the Brexit Party to be dismissed as mere Turquoise Tories? Rather than split the Tory-inclined Leave vote across Britain, Nigel Farage has decided just to do it in half of the seats he originally threatened. So how can Boris Johnson’s allies resist seizing on his partial retreat to ask him to go further? The Brexit Party leader has not taken this kindly, complaining to the BBC that he had “just gifted the Conservative Party nearly two dozen seats, and I did it believe I believe in Leave”. The Tories’ failure to return the favour by pulling out of seats he might hope to take showed “it’s about them as a party, not delivering Brexit”. Mr Farage’s bitterness is understandable, as he has had to accept far less than what he initially demanded in order to back down. He began his stand-off by demanding that Mr Johnson drop his deal outright, but was rebuffed by the Prime Minister clinging onto his “oven-ready” agreement. Then he asked just for the political declaration to “fundamentally change” so that the clause allowing for the transition to go on beyond December 2020 was removed and it was made clear that the UK would pursue a free trade agreement without any alignment. But the Brexit Party leader had to content himself with Mr Johnson explaining that his deal allowed him to pursue a Canada-style FTA without getting tied in politically – something that has been the case from the moment his deal was hammered out – and that he did still not want to extend the transition – a stance Number 10 has already made clear. While Mr Farage tried to chalk it up in today’s Telegraph as a “direct challenge to Barnier, requiring a change to the political declaration before parliamentary ratification”, Mr Johnson did not quite say that. Instead of promising to remove the text setting out how the transition could be extended, he had simply indicated his opposition to extending it further, in the same way he used to inveigh against the idea of extending Article 50 beyond October 31. But by backing down from fighting the Tories, Mr Farage may have given the Labour leader the defence he needs to help keep his remaining Brexit Party candidates at bay. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Daniel Finkelstein: Labour’s Brexit policy is simply dishonest The problem with Labour’s Brexit policy isn’t that it is hard to grasp, it’s what happens when you do grasp it. I have never been in favour of a second referendum. I think the decision to leave the EU was an error but every argument I wish to make against it I made in the first referendum. And these arguments were not successful. A majority voted the other way and that has to mean something. Holding another vote before we have implemented the result of the first one seems to me to offend against a basic principle of our democracy. Democracy depends more than anything on the willingness of losers to consent to the outcome. For all that I believe Brexit will damage our economy, refusing to accept the result of the referendum would, I judge, be worse. The referendum could have been carried out as a two-part vote, a policy that both Boris Johnson and his adviser Dominic Cummings were initially attracted to. The first vote would have been on the principle of leaving the EU; the second on the precise terms of leaving once it was known. Yet had this happened, I believe the winning margin for Leave would have been much larger and, once committed to Leave, voters would have been hard to dislodge. This is the reason that someone like Cummings was attracted to the idea and the reason that others resisted it. To decide now, after it is all over, that the rules have changed flies in the face of the British sense of fair play. It would also be impossible to have a second referendum on the European Union and not have one on the union with Scotland. It was surely right to insist that such votes only take place once in a generation and that the result is accepted by all concerned. – Lord Finkelstein for The Times (£) The Sun: Nigel Farage must swallow his pride and stand down more Brexit Party candidates — only Boris Johnson can achieve Brexit Nigel Farage is taking a monumental gamble with Brexit and his place in history. He should rethink — and stand down dozens of candidates today. To his credit he did Boris Johnson a big favour pulling out of Tory seats. But it is a giant risk to assume that in Labour marginals his Brexit Party will lure Labour voters but not Tories. Yes, maybe his backing for Boris’s deal will convince wavering Tories to return “home”. But polls show him attracting more of them than ex-Labour voters. That could split the Leave vote, put Corbyn in No10 and kill Brexit. So we agree with Mr Farage’s friend and former backer Arron Banks. He wants the Brexit Party to focus on a handful of Labour Leave constituencies. The Tories could take a back seat there, while becoming the sole Leave option in scores of winnable Labour marginals. If Boris cannot take those, the Lib-Dems and SNP will gift Corbyn power. Painful as it is, Mr Farage must swallow his pride. It’s not a “sellout” to the Tories. They simply should not be rivals. – The Sun says Brexit in Brief This Brexit election will decide if we can call ourselves a true democracy – Robert Tombs for the Telegraph (£) Unemployment falls again (although wage growth slows) – BBC News Labour to complain to Ofcom about Sky News’ ‘Brexit Election’ branding – Huffington Post