When asked on the BBC’s World at One on Friday about his chances, Mr Farage told host Edward Stourton: “I think if you asked Tory party members right now, they’d vote for me to be leader and not Rishi Sunak, and that I have no doubt at all and that’s backed up by polling.
“But look, let’s focus on this general election. I’m backing Reform, we’ll have to see what active role I play, and maybe, maybe after the Tories lose heavily, maybe they’ll rethink what they actually stand for. Let’s see.
“What we do need in this country is a centre-Right government at the election after this that believes in a small state, encourages entrepreneurship, controls its borders and actually believes in the country. That’s what I believe we need.”
Asked if he was ruling out the possibility of leading the Tories, Mr Farage replied: “At some point in time, people like myself and Jacob Rees-Mogg have to be in the same party.
“Whether that’s Reform, whether that’s the Conservatives, whether that’s something new, I don’t know. But logically, that wing of the Conservative Party and Reform, looking ahead, have to be on the same team.”
Mr Farage is not the only political heavyweight who could make a sensational comeback.
Furious Conservative members and voters have reportedly “inundated” a campaign to “bring back Boris” Johnson with messages of support in the wake of the by-election humiliations.
Mr Sunak has urged the Conservatives to come together after the defeats. However, Richard Tice, the leader of Reform UK, said the successor to Mr Farage’s Brexit Party was “on the up” after a strong showing in Wellingborough.
