It would obviously have been better for the Tories if Nigel Farage had announced that the Brexit party was standing down everywhere. As Katy Balls says, even now, his party is standing in those very Labour held marginals that the Tories need to win a majority. But I still think today’s Brexit party announcement has increased the Tories’ chances of taking these seats.
Why? Because Nigel Farage has provided the Tories with the perfect squeeze message. He has admitted that voting for the Brexit party might stop Brexit from actually happening if it denies Boris Johnson a majority; he has half conceded that the Tory line that a vote for Farage may end up being a vote for Corbyn is right.
This will make it much easier for the Tories to get Brexit party waverers across the line in these seats.
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