‘The Brexit wars are over’: Nigel Farage signals support for Boris Johnson’s deal
Comments ease PM’s fear of cries of betrayal from eurosceptic right
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Your support makes all the difference.Nigel Farage has signalled that he will accept the EU trade deal struck by Boris Johnson, declaring “the Brexit wars are over”.
The Brexit Party leader’s comments will come as a relief to the prime minister, significantly reducing the prospect of his agreement with Brussels being branded a betrayal by the eurosceptic right.
Mr Johnson his little reason to fear defeat when the deal comes to the House of Commons in the final week of December, as Labour looks set to vote for the agreement or abstain.
But he will be keen to bring an end to the war of attrition of the anti-EU wing of his own party, who have incrementally shifted their demands towards a full-scale no-deal Brexit over the four years since the 2016 referendum.
Speaking to TalkRadio, Mr Farage described the deal apparently obtained by Mr Johnson as “not perfect but, goodness me, still progress”.
On Wednesday, the former Ukip leader appeared to be preparing to cry betrayal over the deal, tweeting: "It sounds like the British team have dropped the ball before the line. No wonder they want a Christmas Eve announcement to hide the fisheries sell-out.”
But by Thursday morning he had shifted his position, praising Mr Johnson and his top lieutenant Michael Gove as the two senior Conservative politicians who “had the guts to back Brexit”.
“The Brexit wars are over, they finish on 1 January,” said Mr Farage.
“Boris will be seen as the man that finished the job. Perhaps not perfectly but, yes, he's done what he said he'd do on the big picture.
“I suspect on some of the detail, such as ‘We'll be back in charge of our fisheries’, history may judge some of those aspects a little more harshly.
“But on the big stuff, the war is over. It has gone on for decades in this country, from the Maastricht rebellion onwards. It's never, ever gone away - the fight over whether we should be part of the European structures or not.
“And now we're out, arguably with a new treaty that's a bit closer to a partnership agreement. It's not perfect, but goodness me. It's still progress.”
He added: “Is (the deal) better than where we were five years ago? Yes, it is. Is it good enough to allow us to become Singapore, the really dynamic booming economy? No.”
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