Rishi Sunak held secret talks about joining forces with Nigel Farage over Red Wall deal
Senior Conservatives are reported to have discussed putting up candidates on a joint Tory-Reform UK ticket for the election in key Labour seats.
Rishi Sunak held secret talks about a last-minute strategy to beat Labour in so-called Red Wall seats by putting up candidates on a joint Conservative-Reform UK ticket, it has been claimed.
New revelations published tonight by the Telegraph, report at the highest level in the Tory party plans were discussed for joining forces with Reform to target Labour at the ballot box.
The paper alleges the former Prime Minister held a phone call and a face-to-face meeting with Dame Andrea Jenkyns, a critic of Mr Sunak and former ally of Boris Johnson who is reported to be sympathetic to Reform UK.
Dame Andrea, who the Telegraph said had lunch with Mr Farage and met Reform chairman Richard Tice, told the paper she requested a meeting with Rishi Sunak.
She said: “We discussed the state of the party, my vote of no confidence, disunity in the party, the awful by-election results, how we were haemorrhaging votes.
“I suggested to him Red Wall candidates running on a joint Tory-Reform ticket. He was definitely in listening mode. He said there was a lot to think about.”
The plans did not transpire, however, and Labour stormed to victory with 412 seats compared to a dismal 121 for the Tory party, and an impressive five new MPs for Reform UK.
But one of the stories of the night on July 4 was just how many seats Reform came very close to taking, with the party finishing second in an astonishing 98 contests.
Nigel Farage's party also hoovered up an impressive 14.3 percent of the overall vote share, ahead of the Liberal Democrats who despite this returned a record 72 MPs.
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Andy Wigmore, a Brexit campaigner and close associate of Mr Farage from working on the Leave.EU campaign told the Telegraph Rishi Sunak had "wanted to engage with Nigel" but his aides hated the flamboyant politician.
Mr Wigmore said: "He (Mr Sunak) kept asking ‘how do we engage with Nigel’, I think Rishi wanted to do this, I know that the people around him still had that visceral hatred of Farage and over their dead bodies would this happen. It was the other people around Rishi who put the kibosh in.”
According to the Telegraph, Mr Wigmore had three meetings with an aide of Mr Sunak in the weeks running up to the election being called on May 22.
Express.co.uk have contacted both the Conservative Party and Reform UK for comment.
