The Reform president has not ruled out a return to the party he left in 1993, but has made it clear it would not be under current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s leadership.
Risky business
Ministers, pollsters and strategists are less convinced of the merits of embracing Farage.
“While bringing Nigel Farage into the Tory fold would gain the Tories some votes on the right, he would likely lose votes on the center-right, putting seats in places like the Blue Wall at risk,” warned Luke Tryl, U.K. director of the public opinion research consultancy More in Common, referencing more affluent Conservative seats in the south of England.
“More than that it is likely that Farage’s dominant personality and tendency towards saying the inflammatory and extreme would make message discipline impossible, and risk furthering the sense of Tory division that has proved so toxic with the electorate in recent years,” he added.
One former Tory strategist involved in the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the record in their new role, was even more scathing.
“The fact there are some Tories, even those as deluded as Truss, seriously considering this, tells you how much there is a vacuum of ideas in the Conservative Party,” they said.
