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Nigel Farage has said the system is "corrupt and broken". Danny Lawson/PA Images

Police probe into claims Tories offering Brexit Party candidates incentives to pull out of election race

Nigel Farage has claimed he’s been repeatedly offered a seat in the House of Lords to “go quietly”.

THE METROPOLITAN POLICE is assessing two allegations of electoral fraud after claims the Tories offered peerages – titles which would in effect give them seats on the House of Lords – to senior Brexit Party figures to persuade them to stand down in the general election.

Lord Falconer wrote to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and Director of Public Prosecutions calling for a probe into what he said were “exceptionally serious allegations”.

The Labour former lord chancellor said it should be investigated as a matter of urgency and must be looked at by police in order to maintain public confidence in the integrity of the election.

His letter to Dame Cressida Dick and Max Hill QC refers to Nigel Farage’s claim that he and eight other senior figures within the Brexit Party were offered peerages.

Lord Falconer said he has seen evidence that the claims are correct, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “I’ve seen evidence from Ann Widdecombe that is a film in which first she says first of all that somebody from Number 10, not Boris Johnson, not Sir Edward Lister, not Dominic Cummings, first of all pushed her not to stand with, quote, ‘moral arguments’, then came back and pushed her not to stand on the basis that she be given a place in the negotiating team.

The law is that if somebody corruptly induces or procures another person to withdraw from being a candidate at an election, that is both a crime and a corrupt practice at an election, which can lead an election to be set aside.

The Metropolitan Police said: “The MPS has received two allegations of electoral fraud and malpractice in relation to the 2019 General Election.

“The MPS special enquiry team is responsible for investigating all such criminal allegations. Both allegations are currently being assessed.

“The MPS will not be providing comment about individual cases.”

Farage has claimed he had repeatedly been offered a seat in the House of Lords in an attempt to persuade him to “go quietly”.

He said that when that failed, people working “deep inside Number 10” had tried to bypass him, going directly to senior Brexit Party figures and suggesting eight of them could be made peers if they could persuade him to withdraw more of his candidates.

In his letter, Lord Falconer cites the law which refers to “bribery” and “corruptly”, inducing or procuring someone to withdraw from being a candidate at an election.

Commenting on the letter on the Today Programme, Michael Gove said: “I’ve got great respect for Charlie Falconer (Lord Falconer) but I think that this sounds pretty nonsensical to me.”

Lord Falconer said that as breaches of the 1983 Act may have taken place, he is “formally requesting that the Director of Public Prosecutions do institute the necessary investigations and commence such prosecutions as he sees fit”.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that there may have been “conversations” between senior Tories and people in the Brexit Party, but flatly denied there had been any offers of peerages, saying that was “just not the way we operate”.

Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib, when asked if the Tory Party’s denials were a lie, told Sophy Ridge on Sky: “Well I’m saying they’re being economical with the truth for sure. Absolutely. It has been going on. Without a shadow of a doubt.”

Lord Falconer said: “These are exceptionally serious allegations which the DPP must, in accordance with his statutory duty, fully investigate as a matter of urgency.

“In addition, in order to maintain public confidence in the integrity of our electoral processes and this election, it is crucial that the Metropolitan Police also examine these accusations.”

The row came amid growing pressure on Mr Farage in the run-up to the close of nominations on Thursday to stand down Brexit Party candidates in all but a few dozen constituencies to avoid splitting the pro-Leave vote.

The Brexit Party leader had already said they would not contest the 317 seats which the Conservatives had won in the 2017 election.

Suspicions that individual Brexit Party candidates were coming under pressure to stand aside were heightened after the prospective candidate for Dudley North announced he would not be running.

Rupert Lowe, a Brexit Party MEP and former chairman of Southampton FC, revealed his decision as nominations were closing – meaning it was too late for the party to put forward an alternative.

Lord Falconer’s letter includes a mention of Ann Widdecombe, the former Tory MP now standing for the Brexit Party in Plymouth Sutton and Devonport.

Widdecombe said she was offered a role in the Brexit negotiations if she was prepared to stand aside.

Pressed on Widdecombe’s claim, Gove said: “I haven’t spoken to Ann and I don’t know anyone who has spoken to Ann for months now.”

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson told the PA news agency: “Nothing would surprise me about the Conservatives these days given what they’ve been prepared to do.

“If Boris Johnson’s prepared to lie to the Queen, lie to the country, you know, I’m going to stop being shocked at where his lack of boundaries lies.”

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    Mute Teresa O'Halloran
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:21 AM

    We are so lucky to be living in Ireland, a country with such a successful vaccination rollout. So many other countries like Australia and New Zealand have an appallingly slow vaccination rollout, not to mention parts of Africa and South America. While the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, did such a good job of keeping her country virtually Covid free, her rollout of the vaccination programme has been incredibly slow.

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    Mute The Guru
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:37 AM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: 915 deaths in Australia from COVID, all the while living mostly normal lives with a few lockdowns, none of which were as long as Ireland. Ireland has had 5,026 deaths which could be more due to the hack and has had restrictions for most of the last 18 months. So how is Ireland the lucky one!?

    125
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    Mute Dave McHugh
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:55 AM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: your population is a fraction of the countries you mentioned in your comment. You’re 6 months into your vaccination program with less than half the country vaccinated. What’s so successful about it?

    59
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    Mute Mac Muinteoir
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:55 AM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: you’re right, in a way, to recognise the fact that dumb luck has been a major factor in terms of availability of vaccines in different countries. I’m not sure the thousands of families in Ireland that have lost people to covid feel all that lucky though.

    24
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    Mute GrumpyAulFella
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 9:53 AM

    @The Guru: you actually believe that those figures are going to remain that low? They are on square 1, where we were back in March 2020, no natural immunity, no vaccines. It’s a lovely green field site for this virus. Lockdowns after lockdowns inbound until they get those vaccines out. Zero Covid is not possible.

    31
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    Mute Aidan O' Neill
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:34 AM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: yeah poor New Zealand having their close to normal life for almost all of 2020 and a good chunk of 2021, while also having way less deaths than us.

    18
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    Mute Aidan O' Neill
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:36 AM

    @GrumpyAulFella: even if they are whwre we were at March 2020 will they have what will end up being 18 months of mostly strict restrictions? I doubt it. They got to live an almost normal life while we were shut. Once vaccination picks up they will start reopening and have had far shorter lockdowns than us with way less deaths. I’d have preferred to have their lives than our since last year

    14
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    Mute GrumpyAulFella
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:38 AM

    @Aidan O’ Neill: yeah but it’s like Alcatraz

    14
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    Mute GrumpyAulFella
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:44 AM

    @Aidan O’ Neill: yes great fun being stuck in Van Diemen’s land. Now they face thousands of deaths and months of rolling lockdowns if they don’t get this under control. Apart from being barred from dining indoors in 27 degree heat we’re free to do what we want, we’re largely vaccinated, our health system is reasonably well insulated, we can travel. I’d take our position any day right now over what’s happening there. They’ve tried to create an Alcatraz and keep the virus out. They’ve failed.

    24
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    Mute Tomo
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:54 AM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: We can thank the European Union for any success.

    12
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    Mute The Guru
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 11:23 AM

    @GrumpyAulFella: absolute nonsense. Their zero covid policy is what has kept lockdowns to a minimum. The largest outbreak is in Sydney because they waited too long. Melbourne will be out within 2 weeks. Saying they’ve no vaccines is also wrong. They have done 13% fully and 20% one dose and are doing over a million a week. In reality they’re about 2 months behind Ireland.

    8
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    Mute Dave Harris
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 11:26 AM

    @The Guru: the Australians latest wave will be very difficult to suppress this time and lockdowns will be less and less effective. The numbers of anti vaxxers/ vaccine hesitant is very high as well
    Expect big numbers of cases and deaths in the mostly unvaccinated population

    10
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    Mute Lina Stein
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:31 PM

    @Aidan O’ Neill: they paid the price of imprisonment.. no one in.. nobody out..

    5
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    Mute Lina Stein
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:35 PM

    @Aidan O’ Neill: it’s like a delayed pandemic there now..
    Australians in general weren’t getting the news updates from Europe or USA when we were in the middle of our mayhem and now they are surprised at the recent surges. They were made to believe they were safe.. but Delta had other plans….
    It’s kicking off now… delta is on a roll even with lockdown. No vaccines, mass confusions, a society who don’t necessarily adhere to the very strictly implemented restrictions.

    6
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    Mute Lina Stein
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:37 PM

    @GrumpyAulFella: absolutely… A pandemic makes no exception!

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    Mute Dave McHugh
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:42 PM

    @Dave Harris: how do we measure the number of anti-vaxxers / vaccine hesitant before the roll-out is even complete?

    1
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    Mute Teresa O'Halloran
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:55 PM

    @Aidan O’ Neill: I’m talking about their vaccination programme being so slow that my brother who is in his 60s thinks he won’t be vaccinated until close to the end of the year. New Zealand is locked down to foreign travel in or out apart from the bubble they had with Australia which is now closed. My brother is waiting to meet his youngest grandchild born in Australia just before the pandemic.

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    Mute Quoka
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 1:20 PM

    @Dave McHugh: The big problem for Aus & NZ is that it has categorically been proven that zero covid lockdown strategies don’t work – they’re good at suppressing the virus but not ending a pandemic. The vaccines, while really good, are not perfect. So now they have a situation that means that once everyone’s vaccinated and they do open up, the virus will spread through the population, albeit a vaccinated one. BUT people are still going to die. At much lower rates – but it will happen.
    Take a rate of 0.25% death among vaccinated people over 40 and account for 10m Australians being over 40 and that’s 25,000 deaths – or 25x the total deaths under zero covid – hard lockdown – strategy. In NZ the figure given same would be roughly 5,000 deaths. There’s no escaping this.

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    Mute Quoka
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 1:23 PM

    @Quoka: The politicians there know this and I would guess always knew it – they were hoping for a therapeutic rather than a vaccine. Now which of them is going to vaccinate to the point where they have to stop yoyoing lockdowns because “everyone’s vaccinated” and open up knowing that more people will die when this happens than ever did during their first approach. It’s a sword none of them want to fall on.

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    Mute Quoka
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 1:25 PM

    @Quoka: They’re both stalling – ScoMo and Ardern.

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    Mute Elaine Phelan
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:43 PM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: I agree. There was a segment on covid in Africa, specifically Zambia, on the channel 4 news tonight. It’s absolutely bleak and they are begging for vaccines. We are so privileged to live in a first world country and be part of the EU vaccine procurement

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    Mute Dave McHugh
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 12:47 AM

    @Quoka: so according to your 0.25% death rate, one in every 400 vaccinated people will still contract, and die from, covid.
    Where did you get this stat from?

    1
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    Mute Lisa Rogers
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:46 AM

    @GrumpyAulFella: no it’s not

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    Mute Quoka
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 8:06 AM

    @Dave McHugh: Recorded case fatality rate in Australia x the average of the reported AstraZeneca and Pfizer protection rates. The fact that the virus hasn’t already swathed through populations there already, particularly 65+ and those with underlying conditions, means it would likely be higher.

    1
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    Mute Dave McHugh
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 9:31 AM

    @Quoka: I know how to do the maths, I’m curious to know where you’re getting the reported protection rate from?

    1
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    Mute Ronan O Connor
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 7:14 AM

    Aussies too cool and superior to be vaccinated no? !

    84
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    Mute Chewey Bacca
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:58 AM

    @Ronan O Connor: too complacent in NSW as virus didnt impact until Delta appeared. Then there was/is a rush for Pfeizer. Astra plentiful but reluctance to take up due to clotting issue.

    9
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    Mute The Guru
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 7:23 AM

    Yes they made a balls of the vaccine programme by mainly ordering Astra but that’s easy to say in hindsight. The article says they won’t get much Pfizer before the end of the year which is not correct as they’re already doing over 1m a week and it’s ramping up even more. They’ll be in the same position as the rest of the world by Oct/Nov.

    47
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    Mute Lina Stein
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:41 PM

    @The Guru: Unfortunately it depends where in Australia you are.. if in Western Australia you’ll get Pfeizer, but not in NSW where Astra is abundant.
    The aged and at risk haven’t been looked after..in most states. The federal government has only so- much say in how the rollout happens even with a Vaccination Commander!

    3
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    Mute Quoka
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 1:37 PM

    @The Guru: No, they won’t. Politically, it’ll be a circus. Vaccination wise perhaps, but the citizenry was sold a zero covid strategy that included quick and hard lockdowns that are effective at suppressing the virus but not ending a pandemic. And it worked really well. The people bought in. But it’s nothing but a stall & damage limitation exercise when it comes to exiting the pandemic. The problem now is when the population is vaccinated & no one will want to lockdown, the virus will still be there spreading & it will kill people – at greatly reduced rates, but also at multiples of their original zero covid policy. So the politician that reopens up is going to fall on a big sword doing so as the death figures will far surpass what they’ve experienced to date. ScoMo & Ardern know this.

    4
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    Mute Lina Stein
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:16 PM

    The Australian government pit all their eggs in the one basket, namely the development of their own vaccine- CSL and this failed leaving the population without sufficient vaccines. Prior to the CSL failing, the government didn’t see the need to order Pfeizer/Moderna as they believed Australia to be safe with closed borders, excellent contact tracing, etc.. The Delta varient, unfortunately for all Aussies is now catching up on lost cases even in lockdown.
    Add to this, nobody wants to take the Astra as the press are still pushing the ‘fear’ button and have created a state of confusion and panic..

    To read more about failed vaccine
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-55269381

    10
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    Mute Tomo
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:56 AM

    We’d be in that position if not for the EU.

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    Mute yell cub
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:00 PM

    @Tomo: we are part of the EU, it’s not some mystical entity handing out baubles to the unfortunate. It’s a collective, of which we we are an equal member

    24
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