Nigel Farage has been dealt a fresh humiliation after Jacob Rees-Mogg’s sister quit the Brexit Party to back the Tories.
Annunziata Rees Mogg, who was unveiled with massive fanfare less than a year ago, has abandoned the failing project.
She was joined by three fellow Brexit Party MEPs - salmon tycoon Lance Forman, Yorkshire and Humber MEP Lucy Harris.
It follows the decision yesterday to sack John Longworth, the former director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, for "repeatedly undermining" leader Nigel Farage's election strategy.
Nigel Farage lashed out at the four defectors saying: "Whilst we are disappointed that four of our MEPs don’t seem to understand that we both saved the Conservative party from large scale losses to the Liberal Democrats in the South and South West of England but we are also hammering the Labour Leave vote in its traditional heartlands making it much easier for the Conservatives to win many of those seats. Mirror.
Blogger: It would seem more than possible that other candidates may step down in the coming week. Note: Ms Rees-Mogg said she had found while campaigning that typically two voters were coming across to the Brexit Party from the Conservatives compared to just one from the Labour Party.
With many polls suggesting that the BP will earn no seats whatsoever, it is blindingly obvious that Nigel's strategies were built on sand and wishful thinking - qualities which, sadly, we have seen before. He is not the master strategist he believes himself to be.
Priority Number One is to get some sort of exit from the EU.
Priority Two is to negotiate with toughness around the Political Declaration and turn a mediocre Brexit into a good one.
Priority Three is to halt the appalling Corbyn and his cronies in their tracks. (Joe Swinson is already seeming rather like the Lib Dem equivalent of foot-in-mouth Ms Abbott. Hopefully no need to worry about her, then.)
Priority Four: Reuniting the country.
In that order.
Only an overall Tory Majority of, probably, 20+ will achieve these critical objectives.
If Nigel's BP destroys or even hampers these four objectives in any form - the BP will, like UKIP, disappear into obscurity and total irrelevance.
Yet again, Nigel has alienated so many of those around him. When the election is over, many of those who, thus far, have tried to keep a united front will melt away; membership will plummet; total disillusionment will set in. Been there - seen it all before.
Truly - I want to be wrong but this has all been so very predictable as history repeats itself.
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