Nigel Farage has urged every Conservative councillor facing re-election to defect to his Reform UK party.
The party leader, who was elected as an MP for the first time in July, wrote to every one of the Conservatives’ 1,352 councillors whose seats are being voted on next May to encourage them to leave the “busted flush” party.
Some Conservative councillors have already defected to Reform in areas where the smaller party did well at the General Election in July. Reform only has 28 councillors currently.
The offer is expected to stand whether Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick is elected Conservative leader, with Mr Farage appearing to play down either candidate’s right-wing bona fides.
The Conservatives have laid the blame for Labour’s General Election victory in part at the door of Reform. Mr Farage’s party gained over 4 million votes in July, a 14.3% share, but only gained five seats. It came second in a further 98 seats, 89 of which were won by Labour.
Mr Farage said: “The Conservative Party is a busted flush – these 1352 councillors are watching their time in office tick away, whilst they argue between themselves on whether to choose a leader that’s undergone a [damascene] political conversion and someone who won’t leave the ECHR.
“I urge any Conservative Party councillors who believe in their country and share our values to join Reform UK as we build on the extraordinary inroads we made at the general election.”
Mr Farage has sometimes been touted as a future leader of the Conservative party, and some on the right of the Tories have suggested bringing the Reform leader, a former Conservative member, back into the fold. Other more centrist Conservatives have rejected this suggestion.
James O’Brien asks caller Rob why he hopes Kemi Badenoch becomes leader of the Conservative Party
Both Ms Badenoch and Mr Jenrick have ruled out a merger between Reform and the Conservatives, suggesting that they can win back voters lost to Mr Farage’s party.
Mr Jenrick has said he wants to take the UK out of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to gain more control on immigration. Mr Farage has also said he wants to leave the ECHR.
Mr Farage himself has also dismissed the prospect of a merger. He wrote in a newspaper article earlier in October: “Reform is here to stay. The Tories had their chance and they blew it.”
He added: “All talk of whether a future deal between me and the Conservatives can be done is irrelevant. It is not even on my agenda, I simply don’t trust them.”
A Conservative spokesman said: “Reform has delivered a Labour government that has cruelly cut winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners and is now preparing to raise taxes despite all their promises not to.
“A vote for Reform this coming May is a vote for a Labour council.”
