The battle for the Tory soul looks to be getting under way today even with more than a month left of the election campaign.
Centrist Conservatives have sounded the alarm about the ‘temptation’ of a lurch to the right after Nigel Farage suggested he wants to ‘take over’ following a heavy defeat on July 4.
Recently-ousted West Mids mayor Andy Street warned the party can only win from the ‘middle ground’, saying the idea that Mr Farage should be a leading figure was ‘nonsense’.
The clashes came as a poll showed Labour extending its lead to 20 points – the biggest advantage since Liz Truss was PM.
The Opinium research found Sir Keir’s party was on 45 per cent while the Tories had dropped to 25 per cent. A week earlier, before the first stages of campaigning, the firm detected a 14-point gap.
Mr Farage has opted against making another bid to become an MP on July 4, but joined Reform leader Richard Tice on the campaign trail in Skegness, Lincolnshire yesterday.
Asked whether he wanted to facilitate a merger with the Tories after the election, he replied that it was ‘more like a takeover, dear boy’.
There are widespread fears among Conservative MPs that Reform will hand Labour a bigger victory by splitting the right-wing vote.
Mr Farage has suggested he wants to engineer a realignment of the Right so Reform can team up with Tory hardliners.
Mr Street told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday programme that the fact he came close to keeping his job in traditional Labour territory despite grim national polls demonstrated that the Tories needed to keep to the ‘centre ground’.
‘Whether we win or lose the general election the point is simple, that you have to have that broad church. You have to be centred in the middle ground,’ he said.
‘The lesson of history… the winners have come from the centre ground.’
Mr Street – who decided against standing to become an MP – said that the top echelons of government was dominated by centrists, but added: ‘Who knows what the composition might be and the temptation might be in the future.’
He dismissed ‘nonsense’ rumours that Mr Farage will be among the leaders after the election.
‘That is not a moderate inclusive Conservative Party with a broad appeal. That’s why it’s appropriate that we think about this well before we know the oucome of any general election,’ he said.
Earlier this week, Mr Farage declared he had ‘no interest’ in striking a pre-election deal with the Tories.
He dismissed comments he previously made where he said they ‘might have a conversation’ as ‘deeply sarcastic’.
‘There is no deal with the Conservatives whatsoever,’ Mr Farage told a press conference.
The Prime Minister has also ruled out a deal with Reform, despite the insurgent party putting huge pressure on the Tories over issues such as the Channel migrant crisis.
Mr Farage explained his decision not to run as a Reform candidate on The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots show, blaming Sunak’s decision to go to the polls much earlier than most had expected.
He said: ‘I had a plan, actually. I’ll let you in on a secret. I was going to launch tomorrow – I had a venue booked, I had it all ready to go.
‘But the problem is, you can’t win in a constituency – or it’s very difficult to win – without data.
‘It’s even harder to win when you’re Nigel Farage, because the other side will cheat.
‘There’ll be third party outside influencers, and I needed a really good run at this. And six weeks wasn’t enough.
‘I thought, well, rather than being stuck for six weeks in a constituency, why not travel around the country.
‘Not just supporting Reform candidates, but try and get a proper debate going.’
Reform UK is currently polling between 12 and 15 per cent but Farage has said that Tice’s party must reach 18 per cent if they are going to win seats in Parliament.
The right-wing party is offering tax cuts, the abolition of business rates for small businesses, and tax relief for private healthcare users in the draft of its July 2024 election manifesto.
Reform UK are also pledging to launch more public inquiries into Covid-19 and the rollout of the vaccine.