Brexit defender Nigel Farage opened his UK election campaign on Friday by telling Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson that his Brexit party will contest all seats unless Johnson abandons his divorce settlement with the EU and agrees to an electoral pact.
The call was quickly rejected by Johnson and his party, although the quick elections set for December 12 are highly unpredictable.
Farage presented his proposal as a non-aggression pact, in which he calls on Johnson to abandon the current deal as it does not meet Brexit's real expectations.
Drop the deal because it is not Brexit, drop the deal because, as weeks go by and people discover what it is you will have signed up, they will not like it,” he told reporters at the launch.
Farage also stated that Johnson's deal is, except for minor modifications, the same proposal presented by former PM Theresa May.
Johnson's predecessor, May, offered a proposal that did not enjoy great prestige as it showed a less radical stance than expected towards the EU and was therefore rejected on three occasions by parliament.
For its part, Farage Brexit Party has shown in the past that it can weaken conservative leaders by threatening to rob their voters.
While opinion polls give Johnson a good advantage over the main opposition Labour Party, they also suggest that more than 10% of voters support the Brexit Party, enough to split the pro-Brexit vote into some seats and give the Labour Party victory.
Farage said that if Johnson rejected his proposal, the Brexit Party would fight for those votes in all seats.