Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Nigel Farage stands down Brexit Party candidates in every Tory seat in a major boost to Boris Johnson… The Brexit Party is in retreat after Nigel Farage decided not to contest any Tory-held seats at the general election and hinted he could also give Boris Johnson a clear run at dozens of Labour marginals. Mr Farage bowed to immense pressure from within his own party to withdraw candidates from 317 constituencies after conceding that splitting the Leave vote would put Brexit at risk. He then refused to rule out the possibility of standing down candidates in key target seats where the Brexit Party is the main obstacle to Tory gains. His announcement electrified the election campaign and provided a huge boost to Mr Johnson as bookies immediately slashed the odds of a Tory majority on Dec 12. – Telegraph (£) > WATCH: Nigel Farage announces his Party won’t fight 317 seats Tories won in 2017 > On BrexitCentral: Nigel Farage reveals the Brexit Party will not contest 317 Conservative-held seats – full text of his speech …leading Tories to urge him to give up more seats in order to keep Jeremy Corbyn out of power… Tory ministers are urging Nigel Farage to pull his Brexit Party out of more seats to keep Jeremy Corbyn out of No 10. Nigel Farage today pulled Brexit Party candidates in 317 Tory-held seats from fighting the election – giving Boris Johnson a clear chance at a majority. Giving in to huge pressure, the Brexit Party boss insisted he will launch all out war on Labour instead, giving the Conservatives who won a seat in 2017 a free run. But one cabinet minister has now said the party should pull out of other Labour marginals to give the Tories a chance of claiming Leave-backing Labour heartlands. The minister told The Times: “Farage accepts that a vote for the Brexit Party is a vote for Corbyn and a second referendum. But he hasn’t pulled out of the seats we need to win to defeat Corbyn and deliver Brexit.” Asked whether the move to withdraw 300 Brexit Party would-be MPs was his final offer, or if he could stand aside in more seats, he said: “I haven’t even considered that at this moment in time. I’ve just taken 48 hours to make this decision. Allow this one to settle first.” – The Sun Farage hints at broader retreat after ditching battle for Tory seats – FT (£) Tories urge Farage: pull your Brexit Party candidates out of every marginal – The Times (£) > Jack Walters on BrexitCentral today: If Nigel Farage is putting country before party, he should stand down more candidates before nominations close …although some Brexit Party candidates were less than happy about being stood down Tim McCullough, who was the Brexit Party candidate in Pendle, called the LBC radio station after the event to express his frustration at being stood down. He said: “I’ve been stood down without any advance notice. The sympathy isn’t for me personally but for the supporters in my constituency who have been inundating me with calls and emails, in fury that they have been denied the opportunity to vote out our Tory MP.” Mr McCollough claimed the Labour vote was “imploding” and the Conservative candidate had a “small majority”. Another prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC), Robert Wheal for Arundel and South Downs, launched into a Twitter tirade at the news. Responding to Brexit Party MEP Martin Daubney, he said: “All that Farage has exposed is his duplicity to so many supporters who had put their faith in him. He and you are a disgrace to politics!” – Sky News Labour MPs press Corbyn to cooperate with Remain parties after Farage’s announcement… Opposition parties said Mr Farage’s decision to enter what he referred to as a “unilateral Leave alliance” effectively meant Conservatives and the Brexit Party were fighting the general election in league with one another. Mr Corbyn said: “One week ago Donald Trump told Nigel Farage to make a pact with Boris Johnson. Today, Trump got his wish. This Trump alliance is Thatcherism on steroids and could send £500m a week from our NHS to big drugs companies. It must be stopped.” And Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson said: “The Conservative Party are the Brexit Party now.” Remain-backing Labour MP David Lammy said it was now “vital” for opponents of Brexit from all parties to cooperate, while Labour’s Hove MP Peter Kyle told The Independent it was time for the party to “apply common sense” in constituencies where it had no hope of winning, to give others a better chance of defeating Tories. – Independent …as the party promises ‘managed migration’ from the EU after Brexit… A Labour government would introduce “managed migration” for EU nationals in the event Brexit happens, the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, has said as the party continues to debate what immigration policy to offer at the election. Senior Labour figures are expected to meet on Monday to discuss the policy, although a final decision will not be made until next weekend, with some pushing for ideas including a rejection of income-based entry, and the maintenance of free movement to and from the EU. Labour’s campaign coordinator, Andrew Gywnne, said on Sunday that Labour would seek to strike “reciprocal agreements with the EU27 that allow British citizens to enjoy some of the freedoms that they will lose as a result of Brexit”. – Guardian …and Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry gets muddled as she tries to explain Labour’s Brexit referendum stance Emily Thornberry blundered today as she tried to explain Labour’s tortuous stance on Brexit. The shadow foreign secretary committed a gaffe as she was grilled over whether she feared that a second referendum would deliver another Leave vote. Labour is promising to renegotiate yet another deal with the EU, before holding another national ballot between that package and Remain. However, Jeremy Corbyn has flatly refused to say whether the party will campaign for its own proposed terms in that vote. Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Ms Thornberry said: ‘It is our duty to make sure we get the best deal possible. – Daily Mail UK hints it may nominate a European Commissioner The UK will abide by the law when it comes to appointing a new EU commissioner, the prime minister’s spokesman said Monday. “The UK will meet its legal obligation, and our officials remain in regular contact with the president-elect’s team,” the spokesman told a regular briefing of journalists in Westminster. Incoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has repeatedly insisted that the UK is legally obliged to nominate a new commissioner since Brexit was delayed until January 31. “We expect the UK authorities to come forward with the name of a candidate as soon as possible. We are expecting an answer today,” Eric Mamer, who will take over as chief spokesperson for von der Leyen, told journalists in Brussels on Monday. – Politico Nicola Sturgeon warns Nigel Farage could decide Scotland’s future Scotland’s future is at risk of being decided by Nigel Farage after he announced the Brexit Party would not stand candidates in Conservative-held seats, Nicola Sturgeon has warned. The First Minister reacted to news the Brexit Party would not contest any of the seats won by the Tories in 2017 by claiming Boris Johnson “is having his strings pulled by Nigel Farage”. Ms Sturgeon told the PA news agency: “The Brexit Party’s announcement today really does underline the fact that Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage are joined at the hip and, frankly, any form of Brexit that is acceptable to Nigel Farage is going to be deeply damaging for Scotland. – Daily Record Nigel Farage: I have no great love for the Tories, but by giving Boris Johnson a chance we will stop a second referendum Few decisions in politics are easy and the one I have just made is no exception. But after weighing up the situation as carefully as I have considered anything in my life, I believe The Brexit Party’s general election strategy of not contesting the 317 seats won by the Conservatives in 2017 will put Britain on the best possible course for future success. It should also kill off the idea of a second referendum. It has been three-and-a-half years since the UK voted to become an independent nation. Since then, the country has been subjected to delays, sell-outs, Theresa May’s plastic premiership and growing belief among Remain MPs that they can turn democracy on its head. It has been abysmal. – Nigel Farage MEP for the Telegraph (£) Marcus Fysh: As Nigel Farage recognises, Leavers must unite and back Boris to crack on with Brexit Over three years ago, this country voted for change – a change that would unleash Britain’s potential in a way that’s not been possible under decades of EU control. This election offers us the chance, arguably the final chance, to deliver on that referendum result and put uncertainty behind us. A vote for anything other than the Conservative Party is a vote for Jeremy Corbyn and two referendums in 2020 – or worse, a remain alliance and years of dither and delay. I am a detail person, and I voted against Theresa May’s deal because the detail showed it would not deliver anything recognisable as Brexit. This is not the case with Boris Johnson’s deal, which is why I am backing it. – Marcus Fysh for the Telegraph (£) Douglas Carswell: An election warning to the Tories: don’t make it all about Brexit It’s election time, and the twists and turns of the campaign are being reported all around us. Last week Tom Watson, deputy leader of the Labour party, announced he was standing down. Then there was ongoing speculation about a possible pact between the Conservatives and the Brexit party. We even had a debate about what form the leaders’ debates might take. But when I heard the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn on the radio, he wasn’t talking about any of that. He was talking about home insulation for pensioners. Over the weekend, when I caught a brief interview with Labour’s Angela Rayner, she was saying something about Sure Start, a child-care programme. – Douglas Carswell for CapX Patrick O’Flynn: Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party U-turn still isn’t enough Nigel Farage says his party will stand aside in all 317 seats the Tories won in 2017. This drastic u-turn in the Brexit party election strategy had been expected. But it still strikes me as a poorly thought through plan, given that it means the Brexit party will give a free pass to Brexit rebels like Greg Clark (in Tunbridge Wells) and also make life difficult for Tories in top Labour-held target seats. Farage can point to an explicit, on-camera promise from Boris Johnson about not extending the post-EU departure transitional phase beyond the end of next year as yet another shift he has forced in the Tory position. And he can use that as a rationale for abandoning his unconvincing threat to stand everywhere. – Patrick O’Flynn for The Spectator Paul Goodman: Farage’s decision sends a signal to Leave voters in marginal seats: vote Conservative At the beginning of the month, Nigel Farage intimated that the Brexit Party would contest every constituency in this election in which the Conservative candidate did not publicly renounce Boris Johnson’s deal in favour of a No Deal Brexit if necessary. It was widely acknowledged that the most likely consequence of this gambit would be another hung Parliament, since the Brexit Party tends to take more votes from the Tories than Labour. In today’s announcement, made less than a fortnight later, Farage recognised precisely this truth, and now proposes that Brexit Party candidates run only in seats that the Conservatives don’t hold. He himself now warns against a hung Parliament. – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome Madeline Grant: Two cheers to Nigel Farage for pulling his candidates for the Brexit cause. Now the Tories should return the favour Nigel Farage’s popularity has always perplexed and infuriated his opponents. Many enjoy baiting him for failing to break into national politics at successive general elections. Working on the margins of British politics, however, the Brexit Party leader has arguably done more to shape the political landscape than any politician since Blair or even Thatcher. Without Farage there would have been no EU referendum. Without the threat of the Brexit Party, the Conservatives might have cravenly accepted Theresa May’s disastrous deal, leaving Britain denied an independent trade policy and trapped in the EU’s Customs Union with no influence over its rules. Today’s developments once again prove that Farage holds the balance of power in British politics. – Madeline Grant for the Telegraph (£) Katy Balls: Farage’s ‘unilateral’ Leave alliance doesn’t guarantee the Tories a majority Will a Leave alliance lead the Tories to victory in the snap election? Nigel Farage has today announced that the Brexit party will be unilaterally creating one. The Brexit party leader rowed back on an earlier plan to stand candidates in 600 seats. Instead, the Brexit party will focus its efforts on Labour-held seats. Speaking from Hartlepool, Farage said he would not field candidates in the 317 seats won by the Conservatives at the 2017 general election. Explaining his change of heart, Farage pointed to a Twitter video Boris Johnson released on Sunday night in which he clarified his commitment to no transition extension and to the UK diverging from the EU in any post-Brexit trade deal. – Katy Balls for The Spectator Rosa Prince: Why the Remainers will fail to counter Farage’s dynamite new move Seeking to impose the template of a general election over the conundrum that is Brexit was always going to be a hard ask. The fault line was exposed with the referendum result, when it fell to the Commons to determine what form Britain’s departure from the European Union should take. In a world in which we are accustomed to resolving issues through party politics, how are we to tackle one – Brexit – which does not fit the mould? It is why both our main parties have come to the brink of splitting in the last three years, why MPs have peeled away to become independents or join new parties, why loyalists such as Ken Clarke and Amber Rudd for the Tories, Kate Hoey and John Mann on the Labour side, find themselves in the cold after years of faithful service. – Rosa Prince for the Telegraph (£) Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Brexit Britain’s economy has outpaced Germany since the EU referendum With the 0.3pc expansion reported on Monday, Britain has now had 13 quarters of economic growth since the Brexit referendum. The evidence is irrefutable: the UK economy has grown faster than Germany, France and the eurozone as a whole for most of the last two years. It is has outgrown several west European states even since the vote. Totting up the exact numbers, it is no longer excusable for the Remainer establishment, the Liberal Democrats, and allied think tanks, to keep claiming that the UK economy is 3pc smaller than it would have been without Brexit, or that we are “3pc poorer” in Westminster parlance. The total accumulated growth for the UK is 4.9pc. This compares with Belgium (4.7pc), or Germany (4.7pc) if we generously assume that there is no German contraction in the third quarter when the final result comes out later this week, not to mention Italy (3.2pc). – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard for the Telegraph (£) The Sun: Nigel Farage’s followers must put their faith in Boris Johsnon to stop Jeremy Corbyn destroying Brexit Nigel Farage has finally put his faith in Boris Johnson to deliver Brexit. His Brexit Party followers, and even his candidates, should now do the same. The significance of his big announcement was the signal it sent his voters: That Boris’s deal will mean a proper Brexit only a Tory majority can deliver. That a vote for the Brexit Party could prevent it. That the sole alternative is a Corbyn coalition Government — bringing on the sickening, undemocratic nightmare of a rigged second referendum and the destruction of Brexit. So our message to Sun readers in Labour or Lib-Dem seats is this: Vote Tory in enough numbers and Brexit will be done in weeks. Only lifelong Labour Leavers who can never face doing so should back the Brexit Party. That, we hope, is what Mr Farage intends. – The Sun says Brexit in Brief Farage can save Brexit and be this election’s kingmaker – but he needs to rip up his strategy – Sherelle Jacobs for the Telegraph (£) Farage has done the decent thing – the Tories need to reciprocate – Gerard Warner for Unherd Green candidate steps aside as Labour targets Tory-held Chingford – Guardian