Friday, October 09, 2026
Vote Tory, get Reform?
The Indepndent reports that the Tory leader denounced the race-based nationalism of some of Reform's members saying:
"Suella Braverman, a former Conservative government minister who defected to Reform, has suggested that only white people can be English.
Badenoch said that she didn’t want to live in a country run by people who “debate whether my mixed-race children are English.”
“We must not let these people take us backwards. That is not the country we are,” she said.
“For people who say ‘Unite the right’ – we are not uniting with that,” she said, getting a standing ovation from the audience of party members.
Her problem however, is that she is moving the Tories further right, with a policy platform that almost mirrors that adopted by Nigel Farage, while the polls show her party struggling, with the only possible means of forming a government being precisely the coalition she is trying to disavow, something at least one senior Tory has figured out for himself.
The Mirror reports that Jacob Rees-Mogg has reignited calls for the Tories and Reform UK to make an electoral pact, while other Conservative members have told them that a coalition with Nigel Farage should be considered:
The Tory big beast, who is a former Cabinet minister, said it was normal that Kemi Badenoch and Mr Farage are saying they are against a deal for now but that things could change if it was actually on the table.
On the second day of the Tories' party conference in Birmingham, Sir Jacob told a panel event: "Think back to Nick Clegg and David Cameron in the garden in Downing Street in 2010, when Nick Clegg was reminded that David Cameron had said he was the biggest joke in political history.
"Parties have to argue their own case until they do some sort of deal, if they do a deal."
The former Commons leader has long called for the right of politics to unite, despite Ms Badenoch being fiercely against a pact with Reform. He said the Conservatives "couldn't possibly do a deal with Restore", saying Rupert Lowe's party had failed to deal with "unsound" people in its ranks.
But Sir Jacob - who described Mr Farage as a "friend" - said Reform was different though, telling the Daily Telegraph event: "Nigel Farage has always been very careful to avoid this type of approach and these type of people, and therefore I think Reform is in a very different category from Restore."
Meanwhile, Tory faithful milling around the conference were split on how to fight Reform. Some branded Mr Farage's party “wannabe Conservatives” and brushed off the party haemorrhaging votes to Reform, while others celebrated Reform having slipped in the polls amid a series of damaging donations scandals.
But some party members admitted the electoral picture was still looking bleak for the Tories and suggested the party may have to unite with Reform.
Jane Emmerson, a Tory member based in London, said a conference event with polling guru John Curtice on Sunday showed the party's electoral fortunes are not where they want them to be. "I must admit that when I came out, I needed a double gin and tonic, you could say. The figures don't look good," she told The Mirror.
She admitted the Tories would have to have a "good hard look" if it came to considering a coalition with Reform.
She said: "I think we need to look at it. I think if that case happened, we'd have to have a good hard look at it, and I think we'd have to say: 'Well, what is the best for the country.' I think Kemi would do her best. I'm not saying that won't happen. You can't rule anything out."
Whatever Badenoch says to her conference as she tries to make the Tories relevant again, the odds of a Tory-Reform coalition are still favourable. It really is a case of vote Tory, get Reform.
