Nigel Farage was told to “put up or shut up” on immigration by a senior Tory MP.
Sir Roger Gale, the oldest MP in Parliament at the age of 81, claimed the Reform UK leader had to come up with answers over how to tackle the “small boats” crisis.
“Time for Farage to put up or shut up,” he messaged on X, also known as Twitter.
Time for Farage to put up or shut up
— Sir Roger Gale (@SirRogerGale) September 16, 2024
“The time has come for Farage, Tice and the handful of members that now make up the parliamentary ‘Reform’ pressure group to put up or shut up” says the ‘Grandfather of the House’ Sir Roger Gale. 1/4
Sir Roger, MP for Herne Bay and Sandwich and who was Deputy Speaker from December 2022 until this May, added: “Both sides of the House are waiting in eager anticipation of his proposed solution to the problems of people trafficking, illegal cross-channel crossings and the resulting and tragic deaths of the kind that we have witnessed this weekend.”
He argued: “To date, no such policies have been offered by the Member of Parliament for Clacton or his less-than-illustrious colleagues.”
Mr Farage leads the five-strong group of Reform MPs in the Commons, after his party gained more than four million votes.
The success of his party led to a catastrophic General Election in July for the Tories who now have just 121 MPs.
Even though Reform only got five MPs, the party ate into the Tory vote, allowing Labour to win a swathe of seats across the “Red Wall” in the North and Midlands.
Mr Farage’s party has argued for a “freeze” on non-essential immigration, for Britain to Leave the European Convention on Human Rights, for a new Department of Immigration, for illegal migrants to be “picked” out of boats in the Channel and taken back to France, and for the National Insurance rate to be raised to 20 per cent for foreign workers to incentivise businesses to employ British citizens.
Sir Roger launched his stinging criticism of Mr Farage as Sir Keir Starmer was in Rome for talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on plans to address mass migration.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper stressed key to the response was targeting criminal gangs behind the cross-Channel trade, as well as more raids on firms in Britain illegally employing migrants.
The Conservatives are divided over how to respond to Mr Farage and Reform.
However, other Conservative MPs think their party should not be dragged too heavily into a battle against Reform and should instead focus on the political Centre ground.
The Tory leadership race is now down to four candidates, ex-immigration minister Mr Jenrick, former Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, ex-Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and former security minister Tom Tugendhat.
They are due to take part in a series of events at the Tory annual rally in Birmingham which starts at the end of the month.
MPs will then vote on October 9 and 10 to get a shortlist of two candidates to be put to Tory party members.
The winner, Rishi Sunak’s successor as Tory leader, will be announced on November 2.
