British Prime Minister Theresa May is receiving considerable pressure to give climate skeptic Nigel Farage a crucial role in negotiating the country’s exit from the European Union, according to a report.
Members in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) have told May, who received a shellacking in the recent parliamentary election, that Farage should contribute to EU talks to prevent him from launching a counter-campaign against her Conservative party, sources told reporters Sunday. Farage’s party UKIP, led the campaign to divorce Britain from the EU.
Sources say Farage’s possible return to UKIP could be thwarted if May gives him an honorary title. Farage, a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, supposedly met with one of UKIP’s chief lieutenants Sunday to discuss the party’s future.
“They hold a few cards,” the source said. “They want Farage as a lord or a role in government or he (sic) and Arron will put something together that will cause trouble for May.”
Farage told reporters Friday that he would seriously consider returning to politics if Brexit was not carried out. U.K. citizens voted 51.9 percent to leave the EU last year. Farage stepped down as head of the UKIP after the referendum passed.
“If Brexit (which the) British people voted for gets betrayed, I would have no choice but to throw myself back into full-time campaigning,” he said. UKIP received a tough election year defeat June 9 when the party’s current leader, Paul Nutall, failed to get elected.
Farage doubled down on his criticism Monday, telling reporters that May “has to go … If it’s going to be a Brexit government, then someone who believes in it must be in position.”
The DUP holds the balance of power in the new U.K. parliament, so the party’s support of May is crucial if the embattled British prime minister’s conservative party wishes to stay relevant within the Parliament.
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