The Conservatives could be plunged into a deeper crisis, William Hague is warning as they face having to compete in five-party politics.
The former Tory leader believes Kemi Badenoch may be facing a more difficult job than he did as Opposition Leader during Tony Blair’s first New Labour term in power.
Ahead of the town hall polls on Thursday, May 1, Lord Hague stressed: “In these local elections, there is really a five-party competition going on when you add in the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.
“So, much more fluid position and the Conservative Party can either recover from that or it can go further down.
“Whereas it had reached rock bottom already when I took it over.”
Praising Mrs Badenoch’s approach to leading the party, he added: “So, in that sense it’s more difficult and she is right to pace herself, she is right to try to rebuild the party’s organisation, and not to announce great masses of policies...”
Lord Hague also warned Conservatives against just trying to compete with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, stressing that if the party did “it will go largely in the wrong direction and will be in danger of losing that competition”.
He added on Times Radio: “It has to show that it is quite different from that, it’s not a party that is going to make a pact with Reform, it’s a serious, potential governing party, with a plan for the economy and ability to deliver on immigration...
“But it’s very hard going...and I think she is in an even more difficult situation in many ways than I was 28 years ago, because I did not have this party on the Right...
“I did have a more popular Labour government to deal with but I did not have this party on the Right questioning the definition of the Conservative Party.”
Just days ahead of the May 1 local elections, the latest YouGov poll put Reform on 26%, up one point on last week, with Labour on 23% and the Tories 20%, both no change.
The Lib Dems are on 15% and Greens 9%, both down one point, though all the changes are within the margin of error.
Mrs Badenoch, who has ruled out a national pact with Reform, is pledging her party will deliver “better services and lower taxes” in local government with “traditional Conservatism”.
But she has braced her party for heavy election losses in the town hall contests which were last fought four years ago during a Tory surge on the back of the roll-out of the Covid vaccine.
Tory polling expert and peer Lord Hayward says his party could lose some 500 council seats, with Reform set to make major gains.
Asked about the Reform threat, Mrs Badenoch said: “There’s no point worrying about what competitors are doing...
“What I control is the Conservative Party. There is a lot of work that needs to be done behind the scenes, fixing our party campaigning machine. That’s going to take a while. Making sure that we are properly funded.”
She also played down the prospect of unrest in Tory ranks if the party suffers a heavy defeat in the local elections.
She has also insisted she has “loyalty” from her MPs despite the controversy caused by shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick over finding a way to unite the Right ahead of the next general election.
Former Home Secretary James Cleverly has also not ruled out another bid for the Tory leadership.
