Sunak rejects Farage’s offer of electoral deal
with Reform party
Brexit campaigner suggested he and prime minister
should ‘have a conversation’ after favours he had done Tories over the years
Rowena
Mason Whitehall editor
Wed 29 May
2024 20.13 BST
Rishi Sunak
has ruled out a deal with Nigel Farage after the Reform politician suggested
they should “have a conversation” before the election.
Farage has
held back from running as a candidate for the Reform party, which is led and
funded by Richard Tice, but on Wednesday he extended an olive branch to Sunak
in an interview with the Sun, telling him: “Give me something back. We might
have a conversation.”
In the 2019
election, the Eurosceptic campaigner stood down some of his Brexit party
candidates in marginal seats, handing a huge boost to Boris Johnson and the
Conservatives.
However,
Sunak rejected the idea on Wednesday, despite making a huge push to win over
voters tempted by Reform with policies such as tax cuts for pensioners and the
reintroduction of national service.
Asked
whether he would speak to Farage about a deal, Sunak said: “There’s only going
to be one of two people who will be prime minister: Keir Starmer or me. So the
choice is a vote for anyone who isn’t Conservative is a vote for Keir Starmer
in No 10.”
Pressed on
whether that meant he was ruling out a deal with Farage, he said: “Yes.”
Sunak was
speaking as he toured a military vehicle manufacturer in Honiton in Devon,
where Conservative candidate Simon Jupp is running in a new seat with the
Liberal Democrats his likely rival. The prime minister was pressed by staff at
SC Group on how the national service plans would help support young people,
with one woman telling him she was reserving judgment until she saw more
details.
Another
employee asked what Sunak was doing to help pensioners who just want support
with the cost of living, or people who are not seeking apprenticeships. The
prime minister claimed the Conservatives would cut taxes in office.
Sunak has
spent some of the last week in Lib Dem-facing seats in Buckinghamshire and the
south-west, despite announcing policies designed to win back voters to Reform,
who tend to be more of a threat in Labour-facing seats in the north and
Midlands.
Reform is
polling at about 12%, with most of its support coming from former Conservative
voters who backed Johnson in 2019.
Any
decision by Reform to back off from fielding candidates in marginal seats could
be crucial to the Conservatives party defending constituencies.
In his Sun
interview, Farage dismissed the idea that he wanted a peerage or honour as
“rubbish”, but hinted he did want something else from the Conservatives.
He said: “I
got rid of Mrs May with the Brexit party. I stood aside for Boris to help him
win a massive majority.
“What are
they going to do back for me?… I’m not asking them for anything other than –
I’ve done them some huge favours over the years as a party. Give me something
back. We might have a conversation.”
Farage has
said that he mainly wants to focus on helping to get Donald Trump elected in
the US, but will help Tice with his campaign.
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