The Tories yesterday left the door open to forming a ‘mega party’ with Reform UK to overwhelm Labour.
Shadow minister Alex Burghart refused to rule out a pact three times amid growing pressure to create a Right-wing juggernaut. Nigel Farage’s insurgent Reform UK has overtaken the Conservative Party in several polls.
But Mr Burghart rejected the idea that the Tories were forced into unveiling their first immigration policy last week as a result – despite party leader Kemi Badenoch telling her shadow cabinet in January not to expect any concrete plans until 2027.
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show, Mr Burghart said that currently ‘I don’t think there’s a conversation to be had’ while Reform UK talks about ‘killing’ the Tories. He stopped short of ruling out a pact in future, however.
Asked by Ms Kuenssberg if it bothered him that Reform UK often tops his party in the polls, he said: ‘You take my seat Laura, where Reform UK took a chunk of my vote at the election. I have a lot of colleagues in the same place.
‘Of course we take the challenge from Reform very, very seriously. But it’s very important that we hold this failing Government to account on the mistakes it’s making on immigration, on Chagos… and the economy.’
And quizzed on calls from some senior Tories to form a pact with Reform UK, Mr Burghart replied: ‘That’s a pretty difficult first date, Laura… While Reform is talking about completely killing us, I don’t think there’s a conversation to be had there.’
But he refused to rule out whether a merger might at some point ‘make sense’, saying at the third time of asking: ‘I want the Conservative Party to get a majority at the next election. We’re not going to do a deal with a party that wants to kill us.’
It follows reports by The Mail on Sunday revealing how sources close to Mr Farage said he would ‘set aside ego’ to work with Boris Johnson if he became Tory leader again to defeat Labour ‘in the national interest’.
And allies of Mr Farage and former Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick reportedly met at the In & Out private members’ club in London’s Mayfair last week for informal discussions about ‘uniting the Right’.
On Friday, Electoral Calculus had Reform UK on 24 per cent and the Tories on 23 per cent – which would give a unified mega party total of 353 shared MPs compared to Labour’s 174 in the poll.
In a sign of how quickly Reform UK is growing, it yesterday claimed its membership figures had surged past 200,000 – trumping the Tories’ figure of 131,680 in November.
Asked, ‘can you ever see that happening?’, in relation to calls from some senior Tories to do a pact with Reform, Mr Burghart replied: ‘Reform’s stated ambition is to destroy the Conservative Party.
‘That’s a pretty difficult first date, Laura, so if someone says they’re out to destroy you, do you start thinking about marriage? While Reform is talking about completely killing us, I don’t think there’s a conversation to be had there.’
Speaking separately to Sky News, Mr Burghart was asked if he was ‘completing ruling out the possibility’ of a merger and if there would be ‘no deal ever?’.
He simply said: ‘This is not a sensible conversation…the fact is there’s one party (Reform) that has said it wants to completely take us out.’
Asked again, ‘would you rule out any deal with Reform ever?’, he again refused to rule it out, saying: ‘That’s not a question for me, I’m not that important. I don’t get to make that call.’
It came after the Mail on Sunday reported how sources close to Mr Farage said: ‘Nigel is convinced the Tories can’t win, and the future of the Right will be decided now.
‘He showed in the Brexit campaign that he can set aside ego for the wider good, but was burned in 2019 when he stood down candidates at the election only for Boris to betray Brexit.
‘If Boris returns as leader there would have to be clear agreement on key matters.’
The Electoral Calculus poll from Friday showed Reform is increasingly eating into Labour’s traditional heartlands and that Mr Farage’s party could steal as many as 146 seats from Sir Keir, mainly in the Midlands and North, if an election were held tomorrow.
In a sign of how quickly Reform is growing, yesterday it said its membership figures surged past 200,000.
At the end of 2023, Labour’s membership stood at 370,450.
And during the 2024 Tory leadership contest, it was revealed that the party had 131,680 members, meaning Reform now appears to have tens of thousands more members than the Tories.
A deal could be in the form of a non-aggression pact at elections, a coalition similar to that of the Liberals and SDP in the 1980s or a full merger.