OPINION:
Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party spectacularly won 29 seats in the European Union elections with 32 percent of the vote. This makes it the joint largest party in the European Parliament alongside Angela Merkel’s CDU party, which is an extraordinary pairing of opposites.
Mr. Farage’s fledgling party’s success has sent shock waves across the continent and beyond. Incredibly, it was only launched six weeks ago, but this victory is the result of a lifetime spent campaigning to leave the EU — and being vilified by the establishment.
His supporters marvel at his indomitable spirit. They feel he is not there for interest group, or even for himself, but for them. He is their voice in a world being eaten alive by progressive globalism.
He warned that he would be “no more mister nice guy” for this campaign, but that may be the one thing he failed at.
In contrast, the Conservatives suffered very badly, coming in lowly fifth place with just 9 percent of the vote, their worst election result in over 200 years. The Labor Party also suffered losing half of its previous 20 seats and received 14 percent of the vote. Yet, despite Mr. Farage’s undoubted success, this election wasn’t a conclusive victory for “Leavers.”
The second biggest winners were the Liberal Democrats, who fought an uncompromising anti-Brexit campaign and won 20 percent of the vote and 16 seats. The Green party also made big gains with seven seats and a 12 percent vote share.
Indeed, if all the votes for parties that support remaining in the EU were added together, this could challenge the previous “Leaver” majority of the Brexit Party, the Conservatives and UKIP combined. However, people were voting for other reasons than just Brexit, so this was not quite a referendum re-run.
What is clear is that Great Britain remains deeply polarized over the EU and there was never an appetite for a compromise midway solution. Theresa May’s claim that she was “giving the British public the Brexit they voted for” has been proven fallacious.
Britain’s oldest party took such a hammering that should a general election be called any time soon it would lose, especially as the Brexit Party intends to fight for that as well. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt admits his party is facing “an existential risk.”
Their only hope is to find a leader who can regain voter trust and make sure Brexit absolutely happens by Oct. 31. This would suggest ruling out candidates who voted to remain in 2016 and those who stayed loyal to Mrs. May’s disastrous withdrawal agreement.
The precarious position she has left the Conservatives in is good news for “Leavers.” The Tories now know that they are in the “last chance saloon,” so no more delays or compromises and that includes calling a second referendum or an election.
Their stand-out candidate is Boris Johnson. He was twice voted mayor of London against the odds and also served as foreign secretary, so he is known around the world and liked by President Trump.
He also stood up to Mrs. May by resigning over her deal, though he did vote for it in the end. This inconsistency is his main weakness as he is a consensus rather than a conviction politician. But he is very good at reading the writing on the wall and will heartily embrace the Brexit party’s calls for a harder Brexit. He may even be open to involving Nigel Farage.
Whoever the new prime minister is, will they be brave enough to cancel the EU’s $49 billion ransom fee and seek a genuine free trade deal? And to reject dividing Northern Ireland from the U.K. just because of its land border with the Republic of Ireland — perhaps by looking at how Switzerland deals with its EU neighbors? And to drop any form of restrictive customs union?
Leaving the EU without a deal would facilitate all of that, but MP’s have already voted against it. However, there is one political party that may have found a way around that impasse.
Robin Tilbrook of The English Democrats has launched a courageous appeal to the U.K. High Court that challenges Theresa May’s authority to have changed the March 29 EU departure date without an act of Parliament. This is supported by a former court of appeal judge, Sir Richard Aitken, who concludes “it may be that the government has acted illegally.”
If the case succeeds, then Britain has already left the EU. Imagine the seismic political and economic shock that verdict would cause, but it would also end Parliament’s efforts to hamper Britain’s full exit from the EU.
Mr. Tilbrook has been fighting a lonely battle so far with little media coverage and strangely had his Facebook page disabled, but his High Court efforts should be of interest to “Leavers” everywhere.
• Andrew Davies is a U.K.-based video producer and scriptwriter.
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