Nigel Farage has said Reform UK is aiming for a “reverse takeover” of the Conservatives, after some donors claimed he would be open to a formal pact if Kemi Badenoch was not the Tory leader.
Farage denied a report that he had told donors an electoral deal was “inevitable” but he acknowledged he would like to in effect absorb the party by winning over defectors and replacing it.
“No deals, just a reverse takeover,” Farage said. “A deal with them as they are would cost us votes.”
His comments allowed Labour to claim Reform and the Tories were ideologically the same, with Keir Starmer hitting out at their “unholy alliance”.
Senior Labour sources said the idea of a merger between Reform and the Tories would be highly useful at the local elections and they would seek to portray the two parties as being in each other’s pockets.
Reform has accepted more than 21 current and former Tory MPs, while no MPs from other parties have defected, highlighting the overlap between the two.
But Richard Tice, the party’s deputy leader, said donors were “confused” if they thought Farage wanted a pact as instead he wanted to replace the Tories.
One Reform donor told the Guardian they would trust Farage’s judgment on whether to go for a merger with the Tories, suggesting they would not be opposed to it.
However, the idea of a pact does not appear to be credible while Badenoch is in post, with senior Reform figures much keener on Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, as a potential partner. Badenoch has ruled out the idea of joining forces with Farage.
Another donor confirmed to the Guardian that Farage had discussed what a deal with the Conservatives could look like and the Reform leader did not think this was feasible with Badenoch.
“I believe it will happen and it should happen,” the donor said, adding that even Conservatives who were potentially sympathetic to the idea of a deal believed it was too early to act now given the fluidity of Reform’s position and structures.
The donor said the only chance the Conservatives had of winning alone would be to move decisively to the centre, most likely under a different leader, and that Badenoch would lose if she tried to take on Farage from the right.
Several other Reform donors said they backed Farage’s strategy of aiming to become the dominant party at the next election, with any decisions on pacts not possible until after a contest has been fought.
With Reform leading in the polls, some senior Tory rightwingers believe the party will need to do a deal with Reform to survive, but it is as yet unclear what any pact would look like.
Options range from a pre-election non-aggression pact under which the two parties would avoid standing against each other in certain constituencies, to a post-election confidence and supply arrangement, and even to a full-blown coalition in order to govern.
Tory sources suggested that any discussions about a pact would have to remain private – or take place after the election. One shadow cabinet minister said: “Reform wouldn’t want to talk about it before the election because so many people still don’t like Tories.”
Jenrick is understood to be among those who believe a deal is inevitable. In April a leaked recording captured him vowing to “unite the right” before the next election.
One ally said: “Rob and Nigel agree on most things but on some Rob issues is to the right of him. Nigel is proceeding cautiously because he wants to be seen as more moderate.”
On Wednesday, Jenrick rejected the idea of defecting to Reform, saying: “It wasn’t very long ago that I was running to be leader of the Conservative party, so I’m not going anywhere.”
Tory strategists say about a quarter of their voter base would be willing to back Labour to keep Farage out of No 10, while three-quarters would vote for Reform, a quarter enthusiastically.
