More than seven in 10 Tory members want Nigel Farage to be readmitted to the party, a poll has revealed. The former Brexit Party leader’s popularity among the Conservative grassroots is laid bare in the Conservative Home survey, which shows the rank and file overwhelmingly back his membership.
Mr Farage quit the Conservative Party in 1992 after John Major signed the Maastricht Treaty, but has increasingly hinted at a return, even joking he would be surprised if he wasn’t Tory leader by 2026.
He was one of the star attractions at the party’s conference in Manchester last month, speaking at a fringe event and being mobbed by fans. And a YouGov poll this month revealed that the Tories are losing more of their 2019 voters to Mr Farage’s right-wing Reform UK party than to Labour.
Rishi Sunak has hinted that Mr Farage would be welcome back in the fold, stating that the party was a “broad church”. Speaking at a book launch in Westminster in October Mr Farage told the Politics Home website that he would soon be doing Mr Sunak’s job.
Teasing Conservative MPs at the event, the former Ukip leader initially said: “I’d be very surprised if I were not Conservative leader by ’26, very surprised,” he told the website. “They think I’m joking”, he said, referring to others present, adding: “I’m serious.”
He later rowed back on his comments and said they were meant “in jest” and has previously ruled out a return to the Conservatives, claiming the party is “virtually indistinguishable” from Labour. But former chancellor George Osborne has touted him as a future Tory leader because of his popularity on the right of the party.
A Tory leadership contest is expected if Mr Sunak loses the next general election and steps down from the role. A shortlist of two candidates is selected by a ballot of MPs, before a vote among party members.
In last October’s leadership contest, Mr Sunak won without a vote of party members after rival Penny Mordaunt dropped out. He previously lost a vote among members against Liz Truss when she became Tory leader and prime minister.
The editor of Tory bible Conservative Home Paul Goodman said growing support among the party’s base for Mr Farage was “unmistakable”. Mr Goodman cited his support for Brexit, his increasing celebrity thanks to his show on GB News and his battle against Coutts owner NatWest after it shut his bank account.
Mr Farage has also said he is “very seriously” considering an offer to join the lineup of this year’s season of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!. He said he has previously turned down requests but has been in contractual talks this month with the ITV show about entering the jungle.
During a GB News show last week, he said: “Several times since 2016 I’ve had I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! from ITV saying to me ‘come into the jungle’. And they’ve always offered me really quite substantial sums of money to do so, and I have always thought ‘no, it’s probably not the right thing for me to do’.”
He said the show has approached him again this year but that “unlike previous years” he is “giving it very, very serious consideration”.
