Suella Braverman has said her party must embrace Nigel Farage to “unite the right”.
The former home secretary told The Times there was “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”.
It comes as the prime minister returns to the campaign trail on Monday after facing intense criticism over his decision to leave D-Day commemorations last week.
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On Sunday, Farage accused Rishi Sunak of being “utterly disconnected by class, by privilege, from how the ordinary folk in this country feel.”
Commenting on the PM’s D-Day debacle, the former UKIP leader said it showed he was not “patriotic” and did not understand “our culture”.
Asked about the Reform leader’s comments, work and pensions secretary Mel Stride told the BBC they “deeply regrettable”.
The Sunak ally said: “I think they are suggesting things — I’m not going to go any further than that because I didn’t want to stoke this whole thing up — but it just seems to me that that’s an ill-advised thing to have said.”
“I feel very uncomfortable with that… And I’m very proud of the fact that we have a British Asian who is right at the top of our government.”
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.
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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 Tuesday, 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.”
Farage pointed to Canada, where “Reform did a reverse takeover of the Conservative party, rebranded it and Stephen Harper – who was elected as a Reform MP – became the Canadian prime minister for 10 years”.
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Nigel Farage plots ‘reverse take over’ of the Conservative Party, citing Canadian example
