London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Aug 05, 2026

Victory for Brexit, but not Brexit Party: Farage says he’s ‘comfortable’ with winning no seats in UK election

Victory for Brexit, but not Brexit Party: Farage says he’s ‘comfortable’ with winning no seats in UK election

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said his party influenced the UK general election, despite not winning any seats in Parliament, moving the issue from being ‘in the weeds’ earlier this year to a decisive factor at the polls.

“I am comfortable with the decisions I made in this election,” Farage told the BBC on Thursday evening, defending his choice not to contest some 317 seats across the UK and let those votes go to Boris Johnson’s Tories.


Though he admitted it would have been good to win some seats – exit polls show his party at zero – Farage argued that it was his party that moved the issue of Brexit from being “in the weeds” back in February to front and center of the campaign.

“We set this thing up, we put it back on track. If we get there we’ve done a good job,” Farage said.

All parties encouraged ‘tactical voting’ to some extent in the December 12 election, but Farage’s BP seems to have taken it to the logical extreme, standing down in a number of battleground constituencies to help the Conservatives trounce Labour in many places they would have otherwise lost. Farage argued that this “poleaxed” the Liberal Democrats and helped avoid another hung Parliament.

Exit polls on Thursday evening showed Johnson’s Conservatives winning 368 seats, with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour down to only 191.

“My purpose was to try to get the right kind of Brexit,” Farage said. If this does not happen in six months, he added, “I will have to put my hat back in the ring.”

Farage has been a member of the European Parliament since 1999, and served as leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) on two occasions, before founding the Brexit Party earlier this year to campaign for honoring the results of the 2016 referendum, in which the UK voted to leave the EU.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Energy Security Faces Pressure From Middle East Conflict and Red Sea Disruptions
UK Government Expands Employment Discrimination Review Amid Labour Market Changes
UK Campaigners Call for Ban on Toxic Flea Treatments Linked to Water Pollution
MI6 Ranked Europe’s Leading Foreign Intelligence Service in Independent Review
Houthi Missile Attack on Saudi Oil Tanker Raises Further Red Sea Shipping Concerns
Palantir Faces UK Tax Criticism After Paying Two Million Pounds in Corporation Tax
Advanced AI Models Show Unexpected Behaviour During UK Cybersecurity Testing
Bank of England Introduces Tougher Artificial Intelligence Testing Rules for Financial Firms
Next Raises Annual Profit Forecast to One Point Two Four Billion Pounds After Strong Summer Sales
New UK Visa Rules Tighten Skilled Worker, Student and Family Migration Routes
UK Government Proposes New Equal Pay Enforcement Powers for Employers
UK High Court Blocks Home Office Deportation Policy for Alleged Trafficking Victims
UK Health Secretary Yvette Cooper Announces Major Reform of NHS Maternity Services
BP Reports Four-Year High Quarterly Profit of Five Point Seven Billion Dollars Amid Energy Market Turmoil
Bank of England Holds Interest Rate at Three Point Seven Five Percent as UK Growth Remains Weak
Spain and Morocco Trade Blame After 72,000 Migrants Enter Ceuta
Met Police Investigated Journalist Who Questioned Cambridge Professor
Badenoch Defends Tory Candidate Jailed for Antisemitic Abuse of Luciana Berger
NHS Spends £240m a Year Storing Paper Records Despite Digital Push
Apple Seeks Court Order to Stop OpenAI Using Alleged Trade Secrets
Breaking With the Past: One of the World’s Smallest Countries Changes Its Name
AI Is Remaking the US Economy, From GDP Growth to iPhone Prices
Comcast: Tied to a Chair and Hit in the Face With Cake: The Regular Humiliation Ritual at the US Corporate Giant
Aston Martin Faces Legal Threat Over £550m Rescue Deal
Conservative Party and Reform UK Face Growing Scrutiny Over Political Transparency
GMB and Public Sector Unions Prepare for Wider Debate Over Government Priorities
UK Government Faces Pressure to Address National Water Infrastructure Failures
NHS Radiographers Report Rising Racist Abuse From Patients
Breast Cancer Experts Call for Overhaul of NHS Diagnostic Approach
UK Government Reviews Prison Policy After Debate Over Capacity and Public Safety
Nigel Farage Faces Questions Over Leadership Discussions and Five Million Pound Donation
Conservative Party Faces Candidate Controversy Over Former Antisemitic Activist
UK Energy Industry Pushes for Greater Role for Domestic Oil and Gas Production
Gatwick Expansion Debate Continues as Airport Prepares for Second Runway Construction
Reform UK Wants the Royal Navy to Return Channel Boats to France
Government Faces Pressure Over Charity Funding Linked to Illegal Israeli Settlements
UK Fire Chiefs Demand Ban on Disposable Barbecues During Severe Drought
Medical Review Warns Current Breast Cancer Guidelines Miss Many Young Women
NHS Mental Health Trust Announces Twenty-Five Million Pound Service Cuts
MI6 Rated Europe’s Most Capable Foreign Intelligence Service in International Review
UK Watchdog Finds Serious Failures in Electronic Offender Monitoring System
BP Chief Warns UK Must Protect Domestic Oil and Gas Capacity
Water Supply Crisis Threatens England’s Housing Expansion Plans
UK Government Rewrites Procurement Rules to Prioritise Jobs Over Environmental Targets
English Channel Rescue Operation Saves One Hundred Seventy-Three Migrants After Boat Capsizes
Gatwick Airport Wins Legal Approval for Second Runway Expansion
UK Government Tightens Early Prison Release Scheme After Public Backlash Over Offender Freedoms
US and Japan Step In to Support the Yen in Rare Joint Intervention
The AI Pricing Problem: Companies Cannot Predict Their Own Bills
Europe’s Heat and Drought Are Now Disrupting Power, Shipping and Tourism
×