Tories stare oblivion in the face – all because Sunak stupidly kicked Farage in the guts

“I'm back.” Two little words that shot a tsunami of fear through the Tory ranks because those words were shouted by Nigel Farage and heralded the fact that, for the Tories, this election is now well and truly over.

Knowing exactly what he was doing, Farage lobbed a bomb into the middle of what he called the “dullest most boring election campaign ever”, and did what he said needed doing. He “gingered it up”.

But he was being modest because he did way more than that. He set this election campaign alight and the fire will continue to rage for weeks to come.

For the Tory strategists, Farage’s late intervention was their nightmare scenario – and it has come to pass. And it is confirmation – if any was needed – that come July 4, the Conservatives aren’t just going to lose – they’re going to be obliterated.

Yes, the election result has always seemed like a foregone conclusion, but Farage has seen to it that the few seats they might have managed to claw back are now gone. If they’re lucky, they’ll get 50. But thanks to Farage whatever the Tory Party was – it will never be again.

At least not for years. And just to confirm that it’s curtains, the Tories’ three top donors have now said they are withholding donations for the election campaign because they now know the Conservatives can’t win and they don’t want to throw good money after bad.

And THIS is why Rishi Sunak should never have been leader. He didn’t see this coming. By publicly rebuffing Farage a week ago, when he hinted that Reform might be up for a pact with the Tories, Rishi batted him off like he was some pesky fly. But why for God’s sake?

Why did a PM who, in electoral terms, is on the bones on his backside, have to tell Farage to sod off when it’s clear the man speaks to, and connects with, many of the disillusioned Tories that Sunak is desperate to woo back?

But, no, this man we keep being told is so clever kicked Farage in the guts – effectively telling all the people who agree with what he says on crime and immigration that the Tory Party isn’t for them. And so now it won’t be.

Those people will now vote Reform because, in Farage and Richard Tice (the Reform boss who handed the title to Farage), they see a party that listens to, and speaks for them. The Red wall voters who won’t vote Tory but who weren’t convinced by Starmer and Labour – which is currently riven by in-fighting – will now vote for Reform.

And while the consequences of all that might be just a few Parliamentary seats for Reform, the biggest impact will be that the Labour Party will win its biggest majority in 100 years. How stupid, how short-sighted of Sunak. Didn’t he realise that the millions who aren’t convinced by him or Starmer now have a real choice? Farage has given them that.

Doesn’t he understand that people increasingly like Farage because, unlike most politicians – especially the two current leaders – he doesn’t dodge the difficult questions. He tells it like it is and people are desperate for his kind of honesty, his kind of fearlessness.

More importantly, where once he just appealed to just the older Brexit generation, his appearances on I’m A Celebrity and TikTok have made him popular with a much younger generation. Why didn’t Sunak or his strategists see the power of all that and utilise Farage in whatever way they could?

Yes, the Tory wets loathe Farage but to hell with what they think. It’s thanks to their intransigence, their stubbornness in following the path THEY wanted, not the path the electorate wanted, that the party’s in the mess it is.

Love or loathe Nigel Farage, he’s one of the most significant political figures of the past 50 years. He has the kind of influence and reach that many of today’s weak, dull, vacuous politicians can only dream about. You might not agree with him, but you can’t not listen to him.

For months now there have been whispers about his grand plan to revive and reinvent the right but no-one knew what it was. Many – including me – thought he’d wait until after the election to reveal it. But, always unpredictable, he chose now and he’ll be standing as candidate for Clacton – a seat it’s predicted he could win by more than ten percentage points.

It’s not an exaggeration to say Farage’s late entry to the election campaign will change the course of electoral history.

Labour is now set to win its biggest majority in a century, the Tories are destined for oblivion, and Farage, well who knows what Farage and Reform will do? But looking at the headlines, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s Farage who’s on course to win a landslide. He’s the one making the headlines, he’s the one everyone is talking about, not Starmer or Sunak.

And that’s how it will be over the next five weeks.

The Tories were fools not to take him back into their ranks years ago. But it’s like they despise people who connect with great swathes of the electorate. They hated Boris who on a good day was like the Pied Piper – he could lead people wherever he wanted them to go.

And Farage speaks to the millions of disaffected voters that neither Labour or the Tories can reach.

Yes, his critics will forever slate him as a racist because of his views on immigration but those cries ring hollow now. People can see the effects of mass immigration – both legal and illegal. Last year 685,000 people came to this country legally – that’s nearly 200,000 more than the size of the city Liverpool.

How the hell can we accommodate that every year? The simple answer is that we can’t and all right-thinking people know – except those on the hard left,who believe any attempt to control immigration is racist – that we have to take back control of our borders.

We also know that to accommodate the people coming here we have to build a house every two minutes and that’s never going to happen.

But Keir Starmer, the man who after July is going to lead this country for the next four years, said not so very long ago that he believed there was a racist undercurrent in ALL immigration laws. And we know Labour have always fought tooth and nail to oppose restrictions on visas and have always demanded more immigration, not less.

Yet, this is the man we’re being asked to believe will control immigration. Farage’s dramatic entry into the election fray has made politics a whole lot more interesting. And over the next five weeks it’s going to get more so.

Hold on to your hats…