Reform UK is “absolutely killing” the Tories, one of Rishi Sunak’s MPs has admitted in a leaked recording.
Danny Kruger, who co-chairs the right-wing New Conservatives faction, said he was “very, very worried” about voters switching to the insurgent party.
The Tory MP for Devizes made the comments at a gathering of local party members in Salisbury last Friday.
In a leaked recording reported by The Telegraph, he is asked about the increasing support for the rebranded Brexit Party.
Mr Kruger replied: “Yes. Yes, we should. I am very worried about that. Very, very worried about that.”
Asked what can be done, Mr Kruger added: “Well, I mean, bluntly, we need to take the voters back because those voters voted Conservative last time, overwhelmingly – obviously some, not all.
“But they are at now, in some polls, 15% and we’re like at 19%. So I mean, they are absolutely killing us.”
Mr Kruger also admitted Reform’s criticism of the Conservative Party is “mostly valid”.
He said: “But I am sympathetic to their general critique. I don’t really believe in them, I don’t really like them to be honest.
“I don’t think they stand for genuine conservative ideas, I think they’re just a destructive force. I think it will be a tragedy if they did end up replacing us.
“But their general critique of what’s wrong, I think, is mostly valid. And the people who are attracted to them, I understand why and we have to have major respect for them, not insult them.”
It comes as a new YouGov poll has put Richard Tice’s outfit on a record 16%, just five points behind the Tories on 21%.
Ashfield MP Lee Anderson earlier this month defected to the right-wing party after losing the Conservative whip in an Islamophobia row.
Pollsters have suggested Nigel Farage, who is Reform’s honorary president, would provide a further boost if he returns to frontline politics.
