Nigel Farage’s six-year masterplan to reshape
British politics: ‘We’re the opposition now’
EXCLUSIVE - Reform UK leader Nigel Farage tells the
Sunday Express 'This election is our beginning'.
By DAVID
WILLIAMSON
20:30, Sat,
Jun 8, 2024 | UPDATED: 21:33, Sat, Jun 8, 2024
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1908925/nigel-farage-british-politics
The Brexit
warrior revealed he is on a mission to build a “mass movement” for lasting
change. And he warned he is ready to stage a hostile takeover of the Tories if
he wins a seat in the Commons on July 4.
In an
exclusive interview with the Sunday Express, the Reform UK leader said: “This
election is our beginning. It’s the start of a serious attempt to create a
coherent party that genuinely believes in this country. It’s about establishing
a group of people in Westminster who are united on key policies.”
Mr Farage
spoke out as a recent opinion poll took his party to within two points of the
Conservatives. Last night Rishi Sunak’s ministers cranked up efforts to stop
the Farage juggernaut by warning that a vote for Reform would simply hand
victory to Labour.
But sipping
gin and tonic in a Westminster watering hole, Mr Farage hit back: “This
election is over. Labour are going to win by a mile. The only question for
voters now is who the opposition is going to be.
“Who do you
want leading the opposition once Keir Starter is in Number 10 – Rishi, Sunak,
Ed Davey or me?
“The Tories
will be in opposition but can’t be the opposition because they spend their
whole life arguing with each other.”
He warned
that unless Reform wins “many millions of votes” and a “beachhead in
Parliament” there is the danger Labour will “govern completely unchecked”.
Mr Farage
was speaking just five days after he stunned Westminster by announcing he would
return as leader of Reform and stand to be MP for the Essex seaside town of
Clacton.
Yesterday
he revealed his decision was spurred by what he calls a crisis-hit and divided
Conservative party that has “betrayed” Britain and Brexit.
He launched
a blistering attack on Rishi Sunak and his “snobby” party – and warned of a
revolution on the right of British politics. And Mr Farage, 60, said the door
is open for surviving Tory MPs who want to join Reform after the election.
“This is
the start of a six-year plan,” he added. “We’re saying the country is broken.
“Nothing
actually works. We’re in debt up to our necks, our public services are failing
in a way we’ve never seen in our life.
“We have to
think differently about how we do everything.”
He claimed
at least 50 of the Tory MPs elected in 2019 share his political instincts.
With the PM
under fire for skipping a D-Day ceremony, Mr Farage warned the Tories could
face electoral wipe-out.
He warned:
“One more gaffe like that and they could all lose their seats.”
Reform UK
is now the third most popular party in British politics, according to a WeThink
poll. But it isn’t just the Tories he believes he is winning over.
He added:
“Most of those people saying they are going to vote Labour are saying it
because they don’t want to vote Conservative. I think we’ll dig into the Labour
vote much more than they think.”
In a direct
message to former Labour voters in Red Wall strongholds who voted Tory for the
first time in 2019, he said: “You were betrayed by the Tories who pretended to
take my agenda. Now you can vote for it.”
Despite the
Tories’ dire standing in the polls, he said there are no discussions about a
repeat of the deal at the last election which saw the Brexit Party stand down
in Conservative-held seats.
A
still-angry Mr Farage said his party “did them the biggest favour ever and
didn’t even get a thank you”. He says the Conservatives went on to deliver a
“complete betrayal of the way we thought Brexit was going to be”. Accusing the
Tories of deep-rooted elitism, he said: “It’s still a very, very snobby party.
Most of their dislike of me is pure snobbishness.”
He argues
Labour and the Conservatives are “as guilty as each other at making the living
standards of ordinary people decline”.
“Britain
needs to be shaken up, governed differently with a different set of priorities
and with different people,” he said. Terror will tear through Tory ranks if
Reform UK overtakes them before polling day.
Nearly one
in four people – 24 per cent – said they would vote for Mr Farage if he stood
in their constituency, according to a WeThink poll. Six out of 10 said they
would not but 16 per cent were undecided.
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And if he
does win a coveted seat on the green benches, he dismisses any suggestion that
he might “go native” in Westminster, saying: “Did I go native in 20 years in
Brussels? Did I change at all? Certainly not.”
Mr Farage
also played down the chances of former Tory PM Boris Johnson joining the new
movement he hopes to build.
He said
that “when you’ve been at the top – the very top – it’s very tough to come
back”. He added that Mr Johnson had “star appeal” but was “weak on policy”.
Mr Farage
took part in the BBC’s election debate last week, joining six other political
figures. The broadcast had an average of 3.2million viewers – 2.5million tuned
into the equivalent debate in 2019.
The party
leader had carved out a new career as a broadcaster before returning to
frontline politics. He said: “I’m giving up a very comfortable life to do this
but I think it’s got to be done.”
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