Brexit 'sell-out' looming, claims Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage in the parliament chamber at the European Parliament in Brussels. - Credit: PA

Nigel Farage has claimed the exit of Boris Johnson’s top aide from Downing Street means a “Brexit sell-out” is looming.

Brexit Party leader Farage said he had never liked the prime minister’s outgoing chief adviser Dominic Cummings, but admitted he was concerned about the consequences of his departure.

Cummings left Number 10 carrying a box on Friday evening as he quit as the prime minister’s right-hand man, although he will continue to work for Boris Johnson until mid-December.

Farage tweeted: “It is well documented that I have never liked Dominic Cummings but he has backed Brexit.

“Seeing him leave Number 10 carrying a cardboard box tells me a Brexit sell-out is close.”

His views were echoed by Remainer Alastair Campbell for similar reasons after he claimed that the country was “days away” from a “terrible” deal.

The comments came after Downing Street insisted that Cummings’s departure would not affect Brexit talks.

Cummings’s dramatic exit from Number 10 comes at a crucial juncture in the post-Brexit talks between the UK and Brussels.

The prime minister’s official spokesman James Slack insisted that suggestions the government could compromise on key principles in the wake of Cummings’s decision to leave were “simply false”.

Cummings was widely seen as the mastermind behind the victorious Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 referendum.

Talks on a free trade agreement between the UK and EU have been continuing this week in London and are due to “pause” over the weekend before resuming next week in Brussels.

London and the EU are trying to hammer out a post-Brexit trade deal after the current transition period finishes on December 31.