Farage in reverse ferret: Brexit Party won't contest Tory seats

The Brexit Party will not stand candidates in seats won by Conservative Party candidates in 2017.

At its launch in Westminster last week the Brexit Party announced that it was fronting candidates in all 650 constituencies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

That’s what’s known in the media business as a ferret. It’s a term coined by Kelvin MacKenzie when he was the editor of The Sun (1981 to 1994).

MacKenzie challenged journalists to stick a ferret up the trousers of public figures. It’s a metaphor for making life uncomfortable for an individual or organisation, in this case the Conservative Party.

Today the Brexit leader Nigel Farage reversed that position and said it would not stand in 317 seats where the Conservative Party won in the last election in 2017.

That’s known in the media business as a reverse ferret in which an organisation reverses a previous position, typically without any acknowledgement.

MacKenzie called on journalists to “reverse ferret” when public opinion turned against The Sun.

Farage previously called Boris Johnston’s Brexit deal a sell-out but said he had since been reassured by the Prime Minister’s commitment to leave the European Union in 2020.

“I have got no great love for the Conservative party at all, but I can see right now that by giving Boris half a chance and stopping the fanatics in the Liberal Democrats,” said Farage.

“They even want to revoke the result of the referendum – I think our action, our announcement today, prevents a second referendum from happening.”

Farage’s logic is not without its issues. The move will split the pro-Brexit vote in the seats that both the Brexit and Conservative Party contest, making a hung Parliament a more likely outcome.

Labour called the Brexit Party’s move to align with the Conservative Party “a Trump alliance.”

Image credit: Wikipedia.