Nigel Farage suggests Reform UK could merge with
the defeated Tories after the general election as ex-UKIP leader drops his
strongest hint yet he will return to frontline politics
By GREG
HEFFER, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED:
13:10 BST, 28 March 2024 | UPDATED: 17:08 BST, 28 March 2024
Nigel
Farage has suggested Reform UK could merge with the defeated Tories after the
general election - as he dropped the strongest hint yet he will return to
frontline politics.
The former
UKIP leader, who has since founded Reform UK, again refused to rule out another
bid to become an MP despite admitting his current life is 'pretty good'.
Reform UK
are currently led by businessman Richard Tice and have gained ground in recent
weeks on the Tories.
The
insurgent party has also recently seen ex-Conservative deputy chairman Lee
Anderson defect to their ranks.
Many Tory
MPs fear, should Mr Farage return as Reform leader, he could turbocharge the
party's general election campaign and help deliver a Conservative wipeout.
In a new
interview, Mr Farage - currently Reform's honorary president - even raised the
prospect of a 'reverse take over' of the defeated Tories by Reform following
the general election.
He pointed
to the example of Canadian politics in the 1990s, when a similarly-named Reform
Party exploited discontent with the mainstream centre-right party.
Mr Farage
has previously urged unity on the right of British politics and admitted he and
Tory MPs such as Sir Jacob Rees Mogg will some day 'have to be in the same
party'.
Nigel
Farage has dropped his strongest hint yet he could return to frontline politics
before the general election as he eyes an 'historic opportunity' to reshape
Britain
Mr Farage
has previously urged unity on the right of British politics and admitted he and
Tory MPs such as Sir Jacob Rees Mogg will some day 'have to be in the same
party'
In an
interview with the Unherd website, Mr Farage again addressed fevered
speculation about his political future as the general election draws nearer.
'I honestly
don't know,' he replied, when asked if he would return to frontline politics.
Mr Farage
currently fronts a GB News show and still maintains close ties to Donald Trump,
who is bidding to be re-elected as US president later this year.
He added:
'Life for me is pretty good. I've got a job that I love… I'm earning very good
money, which I haven't done for 30 years.
'The kids
are all grown up… getting back into politics means giving all that up. But
maybe, just maybe.'
Pressed on
why he was refusing to rule out a political return, Mr Farage said: 'There's a
historic opportunity to really change things. I edge towards thinking that may
be the case.'
But he also
admitted he is still 'very burnt' by the 2015 general election when UKIP won
almost four million votes but secured only one seat in the House of Commons.
Mr Farage
has recently flirted with a return to the Conservatives, a party he quit more
than 30 years ago following the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.
He
insisted, should he stand at the general election, it would be for Reform,
saying: 'Of course. Oh absolutely.'
Yet he also
again failed to rule out a return to the Tory fold - perhaps even as leader -
after the general election.
'If Reform
do well and get a lot of votes and a reasonable representation of seats — and
the Tories do very badly — then something very big is coming afterwards,' he
said.
At the 1993
Canadian election, the ruling Progressive Conservative Party of Canada suffered
a near-wipeout in the face of a insurgent populist Reform Party of Canada.
These two
parties later merged to form the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada.
Suggesting
that a similarly dramatic realignment could soon occur in British politics,
between the Tories and his Reform outfit, Mr Farage added: 'Reform basically
reverse took over the Conservatives and Stephen Harper became Prime Minister.
'If there
was a model, it's Canada. If it's doable, I don't know. We'll
see.'
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