The Daily Mail has called on Nigel Farage to withdraw his Brexit Party from the general election over fears he could split the Leave vote.
Its front page, saying ‘STAND DOWN, NIGEL!’, directs readers to write to their local Brexit Party candidates with the message: “I am urging you today NOT to stand in the election”.
It even lists the email addresses of Brexit Party candidates in key seats, saying: “Here’s your chance to send them a polite letter urging them to stand down”.
The move comes after The New European called Farage “Remain’s secret weapon” in its latest cover, depicting the leader in the costume of campaigner Steve Bray or “Mr Stop Brexit”.
The cover was remarked on by the Daily Mail, which labelled it “controversial”.
We never thought we'd see the Daily Mail reference our front cover in their newspaper... pic.twitter.com/14J1Wo8Xhm
— The New European (@TheNewEuropean) November 9, 2019
The New European columnist James Ball has said that veteran attention-seeker Farage now faces the choice between taking more of the limelight during the general election, or standing down in order not to split the Brexit vote between his own party and the Conservatives.
JAMES BALL: Welcome to the resistance, FarageWATCH: ‘I’ve been called worse’: Farage reacts to The New European’s ‘secret weapon’ frontFarage has been criticised within his own party for standing candidates in 600 seats across the UK – and has been criticised outside of it for not standing himself.