Three Brexit Party MEPs quit to back the Conservatives

Three Brexit Party MEPs have quit the party to back the Conservatives in the general election.

Annunziata Rees-Mogg - sister of Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg - Lance Forman and Lucy Harris today resigned the whip and threw their weigh behind Boris Johnson.

It comes the day after another Brexit MEP John Longworth was sacked by the party for “undermining” Nigel Farage’s election strategy.

Fellow Brexit Party MEP Alexandra Phillips branded her former colleagues “glory hunters” in a furious tweet.

Brexit Party MEP June Mummery also weighed in, accusing Lucy Harris of not bothering to turn up to work in Brussels.

She said: “Lucy, if you had turned up to work in Brussels and spent time with other MEPs rather than promoting your own career you would know that Mr Johnson’s deal is not good for the fishing industry.”

Speaking today Mr Farage said: “Whilst we are disappointed that four of our MEPs don’t seem to understand that we both saved the Conservative party from large scale losses to the Liberal Democrats in the south and south-west of England, but we are also hammering the Labour Leave vote in its traditional heartlands, making it much easier for the Conservatives to win many of those seats.”

In an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Neil, which will be broadcast tonight, he talked the MEP’s associations he said they have with the Conservative government.

Ms Rees-Mogg, MEP for the East Midlands and a former Conservative candidate, said: “We need a strong Leave-supporting government to deliver the Brexit 17.4 million voted for.

“The Conservatives are the only option for Brexit supporters and democrats alike.”

She also insisted her brother, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, or anybody from the Conservative Party had influenced her decision.

“I have had no approaches from the Conservative Party in any description and I am frankly finding it really quite disturbingly old fashioned that people are suggesting that my brother gets to tell me what to do with my political views – he doesn’t,” she said.

“We have completely independent views from each other and I am only concerned about Brexit.

“I haven’t spoken to anyone about it – they wouldn’t be able to bribe me. This is purely, purely about Brexit.”

Mr Longworth was sacked after voicing criticism of Mr Farage’s decision to stand candidates in marginal seats held by Labour - a move that may block the Tories from taking seats by splitting the Leave vote.

The Brexit Party leader announced last month that his party would not stand in seats currently held by Tories, after initially claiming they planned to contest every seat.

Speaking before a press conference in Westminster on Thursday, Mr Longworth said: “For those who want Brexit, Boris Johnson’s deal is the only option available. Labour does not have a plan.”

A Brexit Party spokesman said today: “We also note that one of the MEPs is the sister of a Cabinet minister, another has a partner who works in the office of the same Cabinet minister, and yet another is a personal friend of both Boris Johnson and Michael Gove.

“In the case of John Longworth, who was for years the firmest advocate of WTO withdrawal that we have ever met, he underwent a metamorphosis into being a supporter of the new EU treaty following two days of meetings in London.

“We hope that Mr Longworth is well rewarded for his actions.”

All four former Brexit Party MEPs will continue to sit as independents in the European Parliament.

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