In an opinion piece published by The Telegraph on Sunday, former Downing Street chief of staff Nick Timothy claimed that Nigel Farage's friends had dubbed him Frodo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings due to his drive to continue fielding his Brexit Party candidates ahead of the 12 December elections.
In the article titled “Nigel Farage has tragically turned into the Frodo Baggins of Brexit”, Timothy recalled that in Lord of the Rings, this hobbit carries out “an epic journey and battles all as he seeks to destroy the One Ring, which gives absolute power to whoever wears it.”
“When Frodo finally reaches the Fire of Mount Doom, he succumbs to temptation and chooses not to destroy the ring, but keeps it for himself. Recently, friends of Nigel Farage have taken to comparing him to Frodo,” Timothy noted.
He accused Farage of deliberately splitting the Leave vote, adding that In Lord of the Rings, “good fortune means the ring is destroyed despite Frodo’s submission to greed and vanity.”
“But in real life, we cannot wait for a stroke of luck. Farage needs to stop, before he kills his greatest achievement,” Timothy concluded.
Farage and Boris Johnson Allies Reportedly Hold Secret Talks
His remarks came after Farage’s former closest political ally Arron Banks reported secret last-ditch talks between Farage and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson allies to pull Brexit Party candidates out of the forthcoming UK election.
Banks referred to Conservative voters’ concerns that Farage’s decision “to contest every seat at the General Election will split the vote so badly it could open the door of No 10 Downing Street to [Labour Party leader] Jeremy Corbyn.”
Banks also mentioned a “behind-the-scenes compromise” stipulating Farage ordering “those of his candidates who cannot win to stand aside – but only on condition that changes are made to the deal that Boris [Johnson] negotiated with Brussels to stop us being shackled to EU rules.”
No Brexit Without Brexit Party, Farage Says
This followed leading members of the Brexit Party introducing 600 parliamentary candidates (PPCs) last Monday at a rally in Westminster, London, with party chairman Richard Tice stressing that the party had made a “massive impact on the future direction on the UK and its general election.”
Farage, for his part, underlined that “there will be no Brexit without the Brexit Party,” adding that it was more important to support the Party’s 600 PPCs rather than “being hunkered down” to become elected.
Earlier last week, Farage told the BBC that he would not take part in the UK general election and that he had a better idea of how he should stick to Brexit.
“I have thought very hard about this: How do I serve the cause of Brexit best? Do I find a seat and try to get myself into parliament or do I serve the cause better traversing the length and breadth of the United Kingdom supporting 600 candidates, and I've decided the latter course is the right one,” he told the BBC.
In a separate development, British MPs voted 438 to 20 to support Johnson's proposal to hold an early general election to try and win a majority in parliament and have his Brexit deal with the EU approved. On the same day, the EU granted the UK another Brexit delay until 31 January.
