Brexit Party: here’s everything you need to know about Nigel Farage’s latest venture Nigel Farage said he intends to lead the new party into EU elections in May

Nigel Farage has said he intends to stand as a Brexit Party candidate in the European Parliamentary elections if the UK is still a member state.

The Prime Minister requested to delay Brexit until 30 June, with a break clause to leave before then if a deal is ratified, increasing the chances that the UK will still be in the EU on 23 May when the elections are due to take place.

Mr Farage has said that he plans to lead the new Brexit Party into the elections and stand himself as a Member of European Parliament.

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Here is what you need to know about the new party:

Who is behind it?

The party was launched in January by Catherine Blaiklock, for former UKIP economics spokeswoman. It formed as an official party in April 2019.

Ms Blaiklock had joined Ukip in 2014 and, in 2017, was the party’s unsuccessful candidate for Great Yarmouth. The following year she was was appointed the Economic Spokesman of UKIP but left the party when its leader Gerard Batten appointed the English Defence League’s Tommy Robinson as an adviser.

Mr Farage, who had quit Ukip in December 2018, immediately threw his weight behind the new party and said it had been Ms Blaiklock’s idea but had his full support.

Ahead of the official launch, Ms Blaiklock told TalkRadio: “I won’t run it without Nigel, I’m a nobody and I haven’t got any ego to say that I am an anybody.

“I’m happy to facilitate Nigel and do the donkey work and work for him, but I don’t have any illusions as to myself”.

She resigned as party leader in March on 20 March 2019 over since-deleted anti-Islam messages posted on her Twitter account.

In the messages she claimed Islam was a threat to most of society, was “incompatible with liberal democracy” and a submission “mostly to raping men”.

In a resignation statement, Ms Blaiklock said her role had been successful in “working with Nigel Farage … to set the party up and register it with the Electoral Commission”.

She added: “The out-of-character comments that I made on social media some time ago were unacceptable in tone and content.

“After speaking to Nigel Farage, I realise that my comments fall well short of what is expected in any walk of life.

Mr Farage then announce he would take over as leader, telling the BBC that Ms Blaiklock was “never intended to be the long-term leader”.

“She was never intended to be the long-term leader, she was there as an interim,” he told the Today programme. “I knew she had strong opinions but I was unaware of this.

“I will take over as the leader of the Brexit Party and I will lead this party into the European elections.”

Who are the MEPs/candidates?

Former Ukip MEPs, who stood down from the party in protest of leader Gerard Batten, have since joined the party. These are:

Tim Aker, East of England

Jonathan Bullock, East Midlands

David Coburn, Scotland

Bill Etheridge, West Midlands

Nigel Farage, South East England

Nathan Gill, Wales

Diane James, South East England

Paul Nuttall, North West England

Julia Reid, South West England

Jill Seymour, West Midlands

Jane Collins, Yorkshire and the Humber

Margot Parker, East Midlands

The new party officially launched its campaign last week and announced five new candidates who hoped to fight the elections. These were:

Richard Tice

Ben Habib

Annunziata Rees-Mogg

June Mummery

Alka Sehgal Cuthburt

What does the party stand for?

Unsurprisingly, the party is founded on Eurosceptic policies and supports a hard Brexit.

Despite its wave of support from former Ukip MEPs, its constitution makes clear it wants to appeal to disaffected Conservative members.

Its website does not contain much information in the way of policies, but the Twitter page describes the party as “the only [one] fighting to save Brexit”.

In its short life as a political party it has already been marred by controversy.

Weeks after Ms Blaiklock stood down over Islamophobic tweets another senior official, Michael McGough, was removed as treasurer after making “unacceptable” anti-Semitic statements on Facebook.

In messages, uncovered by the Guardian, he referred to Ed and David Miliband and Peter Mandelson as having “shallow UK roots” or being “devoid of UK roots”.

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