NIGEL Farage could rejoin the Tory Party, Rishi Sunak has suggested.
The Prime Minister said the Conservatives were a “broad church” who welcome people that subscribe to their values.
And Lee Anderson, the Tories’ deputy chairman, also said he would “shake his [Farage’s] hand and welcome him” to the party.
Farage, a former MEP who led Ukip and the Brexit Party, quit the Conservatives in 1992 after the Maastricht Treaty heralded a “new stage in the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe”.
He is attending the Tory conference for the first time in three decades.
Speaking to GB News, Sunak was asked if Farage could rejoin the party. The Prime Minister said: “Look, the Tory party is a broad church. I welcome lots of people who want to subscribe to our ideals, to our values."
And speaking at an event with UK in a Changing Europe, Anderson was asked about suggestions that Farage would win a Conservative leadership race.
Although he said Farage could not lead the Tories, Anderson went on: “Nigel is probably the most influential politician of the past 30 odd years and without Nigel, I wouldn't be sat here today.
“I'm friends with Nigel, and I had a drink with him last night and I get on with him really well, I think he's a decent man. I think he's done wonders for politics in this country. I think he does a great job of holding our feet to the fire, sometimes, it keeps it keeps people like me on my toes.
“But at the end of the day, Nigel stood many, many times in parliament. He has not won.”
Anderson added: “I mean, if he joined the party, I'd shake his hand and welcome him in, but I don't think he will.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg described Farage as a “very effective campaigner” and said he shared “most of his political views”.
The Tory former cabinet minister told BBC Politics: “I think Nigel is broadly a Tory and always has been. If he wanted to join I can’t think his membership would be refused.”
Farage, asked about Sunak’s remarks, told GB News: “Would I want to join a party that’s put the tax rate up to the highest in over 70 years, that has allowed net migration to run at over half a million a year, that has not used Brexit to deregulate to help small businesses?
“No, no and no.”
He added: “I achieved a lot more outside of the Tory party than I ever could have done from within it.”
