Reform UK leader has ‘an open mind’ on ending war with Restore Britain but no progress yet
Nigel Farage at the Westminster press conference (Image: Getty)
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has revealed he has “reached out” to arch-rival Rupert Lowe and suggested a telephone call in order to end their long-running war. It came after Mr Lowe, leader of Restore Britain, published a video on social media suggesting an end to their bitter feud.
Mr Farage said: “I opened the door to that conversation.” But he added: “I haven’t yet had a reply.” Mr Lowe said in the video that millions of people “see a patriotic Right hopelessly divided”. And he said: “I truly believe there could be sufficient common ground for our two movements to co-operate collectively, destroy the looming Left-wing alliance that will finish off what hope remains for this country.”
In a press conference on Monday, Mr Farage revealed his three-word response to the offer by saying he had “an open mind” about coming to an agreement, but made it clear that no progress had been made so far.
The Reform leader said: “If you want to do a political deal with somebody, you know, you would contact them privately and not do a 12-minute video.
“That said, I did actually reach out back yesterday to him. I did say, ‘look, should we have a call?’ I haven’t heard back yet, so I don’t know what the sincerity of this is.”
However, he rejected Mr Lowe’s demand that Reform pledge no former Conservative MPs should be given cabinet posts in a future government led by Mr Farage. This would mean excluding people like Robert Jenrick, an ex-Tory who is now Reform’s Treasury spokesman, and Suella Braverman, now Reform’s education spokesman.
Mr Farage said: “I don’t ditch my friends. I don’t ditch my allies, whether that’s Suella Braverman or Posh George (Cottrell), you know I do not ditch people because somebody else wants me to.”
The Reform UK leader admitted that the split between Reform UK and Restore Britain could damage his party’s chances of winning a general election.
Mr Farage said: “In broader terms, look, you could see a situation where Restore, without the hope of winning anything outside Great Yarmouth, I mean literally without hope of winning a single seat in the country, could do us great harm.
“I think online you will see a lot of Restore potential voters now beginning to worry about the impact that might have.
“I finalise that by saying if it was the offer of a deal, it came in a very unusual way. I have responded to it potentially, you know, with an open mind, as I would, but I’m certainly not going to be ditching people who I view to be allies and a great asset.”
The result of the recent mayoral election in Greater Manchester illustrates the problem. Reform got 21% of first-preference votes, but Restore received almost 9%.
Labour would have been the winner even if the Right-wing vote had not been divided in this case, but it suggests that a split on the Right could allow Labour to win marginal seats it would otherwise lose.