03 January 2024 , 13:51
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Rishi Sunak has been told there will be no “special deals” with Reform UK as the Tories have “broken Britain”.
Reform leader Richard Tice said the “terrified” Conservatives were already “pleading” for his party not to stand in certain seats but said “under no circumstances” will he make any pacts with the PM. He said his party will stand in every seat in England, Scotland and Wales, unlike in 2019 when it stood down candidates to help Boris Johnson.
Yet the architect of Reform Nigel Farage, who founded it under its previous name the Brexit Party, snubbed the press conference and was a no show.
Reform leader Richard Tice gave a bizarre PowerPoint presentation that involved a half Rishi Sunak, half Keir Starmer, graphic (Mark Thomas/REX/Shutterstock)At the event at the lavish Conrad Hotel in central London, Mr Tice gave a bizarre PowerPoint presentation that involved a half Mr Sunak, half Keir Starmer, graphic claiming the Tories and Labour are “two sides of the same socialist coin”. It also featured another edited image of the Labour leader saying “Starmergeddon” - described as “a catastrophic cocktail of economic incompetence” - was a risk to Britain in 2024.
Mr Tice claimed Reform is the party of working people and said he could be "absolutely categoric that we are not doing any deals with the Tories... under any circumstances". “I'm optimistic that the country quite rightly wants to punish the Tories for breaking Britain, because that is what they want to do. I think the country wants to punish them, to oust them and replace them,” he added.
Brexit geniuses stay silent as we lose out by £100bn per year
But Mr Tice said Mr Farage was “still assessing” what role he will play in Reform. The ex-Ukip leader, who is honorary president of Reform, has not ruled out a return to frontline politics and has been desperately seeking airtime on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!.
He has spent months threatening to rejoin the Conservatives, making a highly-publicised appearance at last year's Tory conference, and claiming he could be Tory leader by 2026. Asked if he’d be disappointed if Mr Farage ditched Reform, Mr Tice said he was “confident Nigel is committed” before ranting about the country being excited by the prospect of a “President Farage alongside a possible President Trump”.
Reform announced that former MEP Ben Habib would contest the Wellingborough by-election for the party following the recall of scandal-hit MP Peter Bone. Mr Bone held the Northamptonshire seat for the Tories in 2019 with 18,540 more votes than second placed Labour.
Reform is polling at around 10% nationally and there are fears in the Conservatives that the outfit could dent their electoral chances. As the Tories lag around 18 points behind Labour, Reform could make Mr Sunak's chances of winning a majority narrower by splitting the right-wing vote. In the Tamworth and Mid-Bedfordshire by-elections in October, both of which Labour won, a split on the right of the party saw the vote share for Reform come out larger than the Labour majority.