Reform, the creation of former Ukip and Brexit Party boss Nigel Farage, has been averaging at about 10 per cent in opinion polls as it targets Tory failure to deliver on promises to curb migration.
Party leader Richard Tice pledged today that Reform will stand in every constituency in the next general election, a move that could imperil many Tory seats.
And he told a press conference that Mr Farage — last sighted in a jungle on a TV reality show — was considering staging a comeback, a move that would likely turbocharge Reform’s prospects.
“The job at hand is so big to save Britain, the more help that Nigel is able to give in the election campaign, frankly, the better,” Mr Tice said.
Britain’s foremost polling expert John Curtice said this week that Reform was now a threat to the Tories.
“Reform is already proving to be something for a problem for the Conservatives,” he said.
“The Conservatives are losing votes as heavily to Reform as they are to Labour.”
In 2019, Reform’s predecessor, the Brexit Party, did not stand against most Conservative MPs. Today, Mr Tice is offering no such deals.
“The country quite rightly wants to punish the Tories for breaking Britain,” he said.
“So there’s no special deals, we stand in every single seat in England, Scotland and Wales.”
Blustering Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson, who claimed he was offered considerable cash to defect to Reform, warned today that “if Reform do pick off a lot of us Conservative MPs at the next election, then we’re going to end up with a Labour government.”
