Nigel Farage mocks ‘caretaker PM’ Boris Johnson

Nigel Farage has put the boot into Boris Johnson as the Brexit Party leader suggested the under-fire premier was now effectively a ‘caretaker prime minister’.

Mr Farage mocked Mr Johnson as he claimed the ongoing Brexit chaos and the PM losing his majority in the House of Commons meant the EU no longer knew who to negotiate with. 

He also predicted there will be a snap general election in the last week of November as he said there was ‘just about zero’ chance of Mr Johnson getting a Brexit deal through Parliament by October 31. 

Relations between Mr Farage and Mr Johnson are increasingly frosty after the latter rejected the former’s offer of an election pact and government sources claimed the Brexit Party leader was not a ‘fit and proper’ person. 

Despite the growing disquiet between the two parties, Mr Farage today reiterated his offer of an alliance still stands if Mr Johnson was to fully commit to a No Deal Brexit. 

But the prospect of a deal between the two men now appears even more unlikely after Mr Johnson ridiculed Mr Johnson for having lost control of the Brexit process.

His intervention came as Mr Johnson prepared to face MPs this afternoon after the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that his prorogation of Parliament was unlawful. 

Mr Johnson, pictured in New York yesterday, has repeatedly ruled out striking an electoral alliance with The Brexit Party

Mr Farage has said the chances of the UK leaving the EU by the existing Halloween deadline have evaporated and that there will now be a Brexit delay. 

Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme why he believed that to be the case, Mr Farage said: ‘I don’t think Brussels know even who to negotiate with. Is Boris Johnson there as a caretaker Prime Minister? 

‘He is leading a minority [government], his chances of getting anything passed by Parliament are just about zero, so I think we are heading towards extension. 

‘I think that is the most likely outcome, yes.’

Mr Farage said ‘at some point there is going to be an election’ and that Jeremy Corbyn’s insistence that he would only back a snap poll once No Deal has been ruled out meant that a November contest was looking probable. 

He said: ‘That would mean then an election probably on the last Thursday in November. 

‘If that is the case, it is not very far away. I don’t believe, as somebody who is a Brexiteer, there is any chance of getting a Brexit of any meaningful kind unless we have a general election and a completely different make up in Parliament so I would welcome that opportunity.’

Tory Eurosceptics fear that if Mr Johnson does not form an electoral alliance with Mr Farage the pro-Brexit vote will be split at the next election, handing victory to Labour and the Lib Dems in numerous seats. 

Mr Farage said it was far from certain that such a split of the vote would take place as he said British politics was ‘so volatile’ it is hard to predict ‘what is going to happen’.

But he said that if Mr Johnson backed a so-called ‘clean break’ Brexit he would still do a deal with the PM. 

‘In those circumstances I think a non-aggression pact between the two of us would result in the Conservatives getting a majority of between 60 and 100 seats,’ he said.

‘I think the opportunity is there to solve this at a general election. Boris’s problem of course is that about half the parliamentary party in the Conservatives don’t really want to leave the EU at all.’      

 Mr Johnson has repeatedly ruled out forming an alliance with Mr Farage. 

Earlier this week he said: ‘The Conservative Party is the oldest, most successful political party in the world, and we will be contesting the next election, when the opposition finally sum up the nerve to have an election, as Conservatives and not in an alliance or pact or coupon deal.’

Asked if that meant a Conservative candidate would be standing in every seat, the Tory leader replied ‘of course’.