Jacob Rees-Mogg has said the Conservatives need to form a “coalition” with Reform UK to avoid splitting the right-wing vote.
The comments came as a YouGov survey, published on Tuesday, placed the Conservative Party just one point ahead of Nigel Farage’s Reform.
The poll put Labour on 38 per cent, the Conservatives on 18, Reform on 17, the Liberal Democrats on 15 and the Greens on 8.
YouGov’s survey was swiftly followed by a Redfield and Wilton poll which asked who would be the better leader of the opposition to a Labour government.
General Election: Healthcare professionals urge political parties to pledge support for their health and wellbeing
Review outcome could jeopardise wildlife management, warns BASC Scotland
***Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest election news and analysis.***
Respondents backed Nigel Farage as top with 28 per cent slightly ahead of Rishi Sunak on 27 per cent.
Reflecting on the rise of Reform UK, Rees-Mogg called on his fellow Conservatives to reunite the “Tory party family.”
The former business secretary told GB News: “If the Conservatives and Reform are very close, what does that tell you about dividing the Tory family?
“If you divide the Tory family you make it worse for both parts, the in-laws and the outlaws, so to speak, and that what we need is a coalition, a coalescence, of the various parts of the Tory party family.”
It is not the first time the former cabinet minister has called for the Conservatives and Reform to come together politically.
Last month, before the prime minister called an election, Rees-Mogg urged Rishi Sunak to make a “big, open and comprehensive offer to those in Reform”, including a government post to Farage and candidate selection for Richard Tice and Ben Habib, Reform’s leader and deputy leader respectively.
Sir Jacob argued that uniting the right of British politics would put election victory “within reach”.
He told GB News: “With the help of Nigel Farage in a Conservative government, as a Conservative minister, with Boris Johnson probably returning as foreign secretary and welcoming the likes of Ben Habib and Richard Tice into our party, as well as pursuing genuinely conservative policies, winning the next election suddenly becomes within reach.”
In so doing, Rees-Mogg said the Conservatives could reunite the coalition of voters who propelled Boris Johnson to victory at the 2019 general election.
Rees-Mogg’s mission to “unite the right” has been supported in recent days by former home secretary Suella Braverman.
The ex-cabinet minister told The Times there is “not much difference” between Reform’s policies and those of the Conservative Party, as she suggested the Tories could enter into a pact with Farage “in the future”.
Speaking earlier this week, Braverman, who is considered a likely candidate in any future Tory leadership contest, said it was “a real shame” that the right-wing vote was split between the Conservatives and Reform.
She insisted the Conservatives should be a “broad church” and a “welcoming party”.
Hinting at a possible merger between the two parties, she said that the Tories and Reform “shouldn’t be divided on this side of the political spectrum”.
She told The Times: “We need to, in the future, to find some way to work together because there shouldn’t be big differences between us.
“I would welcome Nigel into the Conservative Party. There’s not much difference really between him and many of the policies that we stand for.
“We are a broad church, we should be a welcoming party and an inclusive party and if someone is supportive of the party, that’s a pre-condition and they want Conservatives to get elected then they should be welcomed.”
Last week, Farage suggested his long-term aim is for Reform to “reverse take over” the Conservative Party.
Explaining his bid to become an MP in the constituency of Clacton, Farage said he could not let down “millions of people” who had supported his past political projects.
He added: “Something is happening out there. There is a rejection of the political class going on in this country in a way that has not been seen in modern times.”
Speaking to ITV last week, Farage laid out his long-term plans: “You can speculate as to what’ll happen in three or four years’ time, all I will tell you is if Reform succeed in the way that I think they can, then a chunk of the Conservative Party will join us.”
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest election news and analysis.
