He allegedly wants to “engineer a reverse takeover” of the Tories with Reform UK
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is reportedly considering forming a pact with the Tories.
Former deputy leader of Reform Ben Habib, told right-wing podcast PopCon that Farage’s strategy was to have “a strong negotiating hand” by 2028.
He said: “Nigel’s aim is to set up the best possible negotiating position he can between now and 2028 for the Conservative Party. Take as many Conservative MPs, grassroots, members, candidates, councillors, whatever.
“Weaken the Tory party as much as he possibly can, get to 2028 and then he will try and do a deal. If he succeeds and gets very strong he will do that deal from a position of strength.”
Allies of Farage have also privately told The Independent that he aims to “engineer a reverse takeover” of the Conservatives through Reform UK.
Michela Morizzo, chief executive of polling firm Techne UK, told The Independent that a pact between Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and the Conservatives could make them “unassailable” in the next election, according to current polling data.
The latest tracker poll by Techne UK for The Independent revealed a close three-way race, with Labour at 25% (down one point), narrowly ahead of both the Conservatives and Reform UK, who both stood at 24%.
This would mean the combined vote for right-wing parties in the UK would be 48%.
The latest polling data from Techne shows that Reform UK is gaining support from other parties, including one in four Tory voters at the 2024 election and one in seven Lib Dem voters.
The rise in support for Reform UK is also in the context of Kemi Badenoch’s poor performance as Conservative leader.
YouGov polling of voters’ views on Badenoch in December found that over half (53%) of Britons think she does not look like a prime minister in waiting, compared to just 13% who think she does.
In addition, 37% of Brits said they thought she was doing badly as Tory leader, compared to 20% who thought she was doing well and 43% who said ‘don’t know’.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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