Yahoo News Former Brexit Party MEP says party is 'going in entirely the wrong direction' in angry rant
A former Brexit Party MEP has said people shouldn’t vote for the party in the general election.
In a series of angry tweets, David Coburn, who was dropped from Nigel Farage’s list of candidates for the European elections in May, said the party was heading in a “disastrous direction”.
He wrote: “If @brexitparty_uk decided to stand candidates in Northern @UKLabour seats I would have wholeheartedly agreed with that approach but instead they have taken a disastrous wrong turn.
"I would strongly urge anyone thinking of voting @brexitparty_uk not to do so... it is a hollowed out shell with no members but supporters and no manifesto".
If @brexitparty_uk decided to stand candidates in Northern @UKLabour seats I would have wholeheartedly agreed with that approach but instead they have taken a disastrous wrong turn
— David Coburn (@Coburn4Brexit) November 4, 2019
Mr Coburn added that if the Conservative Party didn’t get a majority in the election it would scupper Britain leaving the European Union.
“Simple truth if @BorisJohnson doesn’t secure a working majority in upcoming GE you can kiss goodbye to Brexit forever...” he wrote.
One Twitter suggested that the former art dealer was “bitter”, referring to a piece that said he was “humiliated when Nigel Farage refused to let him stand again in the EU elections for his new Brexit Party.
Mr Coburn replied: “False and Untrue. @Nigel_Farage never prevented me from standing in 2019 EU elections...the opposite is True...Nigel is an amazing politician and supportive of his MEPs.”
I would strongly urge anyone thinking of voting @brexitparty_uk not to do so...it is a hollowed out shell with no members but supporters and no manifesto
— David Coburn (@Coburn4Brexit) November 4, 2019
A Brexit Party spokesman refused to comment on Mr Coburn’s tweets, although he admitted that he couldn’t see them as he had apparently been blocked from his Twitter page.
The tweets come as support for the Brexit Party has plummeted in the past few days.
Voters appear to be have turned away from the party in their droves since the December 12 general election was announced and Mr Farage revealed he will not stand as an MP.
On Monday, Mr Farage vowed to target the five million Labour voters who backed Leave in the referendum as he unveiled his party’s candidates for the election.
He dismissed accusations he would split the pro-Brexit vote by running against the Tories, saying Boris Johnson’s deal was “not Brexit”.
He accused the Conservatives of “conceited arrogance” after the Leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg urged him to step aside and “leave the field”.
Mr Rees-Mogg warned he was in danger of snatching “defeat from the jaws of victory” for the campaign to leave the EU.
Mr Coburn has a long history of offensive comments, including homophobic remarks directed at Ruth Davidson.
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He also campaigned to ban UKIP activists and politicians from helping in food banks, as he said he believes them to be "left-wing propaganda invented by Labour and the SNP".
Mr Farage had previously spoken in favour of food banks.
Mr Coburn defected from UKIP in 2018 citing that it was promoting “anti-Islamic policies”.
He followed Mr Farage out of the party and into his former leader’s new Brexit Party earlier this year, but Mr Farage announced in April that Louis Stedman-Bryce would be at the top of his list of candidates in Scotland.
In 2015, Wikipedia blocked his user account ‘David Coburn MEP’ over attempts to alter the article about him 69 times in six days.
