The Deputy Prime Minister has warned Nigel Farage should not return to the Conservative Party, despite Liz Truss calling for him to do exactly that.
Rumours have been swirling that the former Brexit Party leader could join the Conservative Party as he re-enters his political career.
But Oliver Dowden said he did not support the return, telling Sky News: “I, like many hundreds of thousands of Conservatives up and down the country, have spent many years campaigning against parties led by Nigel Farage – so no, I don’t support Nigel Farage rejoining the Conservative Party.”
Asked by Steve Bannon, former White House strategist under Donald Trump’s leadership, whether she would work with Mr Farage, Liz Truss said: “I would like him to become a member of the Conservative Party and help turn our country around.”
It comes as support for Rishi Sunak and the Tories is plummeting in the polls – often at the expense of Richard Tice’s Reform UK party, which Farage has been linked to in recent times.
Mr Farage was a member of the Tory party until 1992 after John Major, the then-PM, signed the Maastricht Treaty relating to the UK’s European Union membership.
Mr Dowden’s comments may come as a surprise after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Farage would always be welcome to rejoin the party. Following his stint in the ITV I’m a Celebrity jungle, Mr Farage has hinted at a return to politics. He said he was “open minded” about returning to the Conservative Party after the next election.
But in a blow to Liz Truss’s hopes, Farage told The Telegraph earlier this month that he would not rejoin the Tories before the election because he disagreed with too many of their policies.
But when asked whether he could seek to join the party afterwards, he said it depended on how the Right of British politics realigned, adding: “I think we just have to wait to see. I’m open-minded about anything that happens after the election.”
At the end of 2023, Mr Farage went as far as saying he would be in charge of the Conservative Party by 2026. Speaking to the Politics Home website, the staunch Brexiteer said: “I’d be very surprised if I were not Conservative leader by ‘26. Very surprised.”
The former Brexit Party leader insisted he was “serious” about aiming for party leadership, then later told the site that he made the statement “in jest.”
