Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has told supporters in Cumbria the idea of “Workington man” as the key swing voter in the election is “patronising cobblers”.
Mr Farage addressed a room in the Washington Hotel in Workington on Wednesday morning.
The town, which voted Leave in the 2016 referendum, has been in the news after think tank Onward said Conservatives would have to target traditional Labour voters from regional towns such as Workington in order to win the December 12 election.
I’m in Workington this morning to announce our general election candidate.
The London media obsession with ‘Workington Man’ is patronising cobblers! pic.twitter.com/DyNENSVndT
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) November 6, 2019
Mr Farage said: “In the past, you may remember Worcester woman was apparently going to decide the outcome of the election and another one was Mondeo man, but this time, we’re told, it’s Workington man.
“Can I just say, this has all been dreamt up by a Conservative think tank in London.
“I think it’s a load of patronising cobblers to people in Workington.
“You’re going to get bombarded with press and political figures and I thought I’ll come as quickly as I possibly can to lay my cards on the table and talk about this election.”
Mr Farage’s speech was interrupted midway through by a woman who shouted “fascist” as she left the room, followed by a woman wearing a “Bollocks to Brexit” T-shirt.
Addressing supporters in the Workington constituency, which has been Labour since 1979, Mr Farage said: “If you are a Leave voter you cannot vote Labour in this election because it is clear they will betray your vote.”
He also criticised Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, saying it was 95% “the same as Mrs May’s bad old treaty”.
He said: “I like Boris personally but I’m sorry to say what he is presenting just is not Brexit, it’s as simple as that.”
Mr Farage acknowledged the Brexit Party could not win the election, and either Mr Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn would become prime minister.
But, he gave the DUP as an example of the influence minority parties could have in Parliament and said Mr Johnson “changes his mind all the time”.
He said: “He’s very good at moving around with the wind and if we in the Brexit Party can get that wind strong, that says we wanted to leave the European Union and nothing less than that is good enough, he’ll change and we will get there.”
