Nigel Farage has performed a stunning U-turn – saying Reform UK could team up with the Conservatives to run local councils, despite vowing just months ago he wouldn’t do deals “at any level.”
In a dramatic shift, the Reform leader declared his party would “work with anybody” in local government – including Labour and the Lib Dems – if it meant delivering value for money and cleaning up council spending.
Speaking at a fiery press conference in Dover on Thursday, Farage said: “We could work with anybody at local government. We could work with independents. We could work with Labour. We could work with Lib Dems.”
He added that any deal would come with strict Reform demands – including bringing in auditors, scrapping dodgy contracts, slashing money spent on consultants, and scrutinising pothole repairs.
Nigel Farage’s comments come just weeks after he slammed suggestions of a Conservative-Reform alliance, and declared: “There’ll be no formal coalitions with anybody.”
But yesterday, pressed on whether he was ruling out local pacts, he told The Telegraph: “If we’re in that position, we would work with other people… and that, I think, is what our voters would want and would demand of us.”
However, Farage did take a swipe at popular Conservative MP Robert Jenrick – calling him a “Nigel Farage impersonator” and claiming 21 Conservative MPs “ought to be in Reform.”
The comment came after Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, hinted at uniting the Right to stop Labour, sparking speculation about a future pact.
‘SPECIAL KEMI’ MOCKERY
Farage also mocked Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, by posing with a box of “Special Kemi” cereal after Keir Starmer quipped at PMQs that Reform would “eat the Tories for breakfast.”
Badenoch herself had floated the idea of local deals between the two parties, saying earlier this month: “It’s up to local Tory leaders to make the choice about what is right for their councils.”
At the time, Farage dismissed the idea. But now, with just days to go until the May 1 elections, he seems to be softening his stance.
TOUGH TALK ON IMMIGRATION AND DIVERSITY
Also at the Dover event, Farage unveiled hardline new policies including the creation of a “minister for deportations” and a ban on diversity roles in the public sector.
He said the new minister, based in the Home Office, would oversee immediate deportation of foreign criminals and the removal of British citizenship from immigrants who commit crimes – barring “some misdemeanour offences.” He also vowed to end all DEI (Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion) recruitment in public services.
“The fact that 43 police forces now discriminate against white people in favour of ethnic minorities for jobs can only divide our country yet further. It’s a mistake,” he said.
“We as a political party are colour-blind. We couldn’t care less what colour you are… We just ask that you come, you work, you pay your taxes, you speak our language, you integrate with us.”
‘TAKEOVER’ STILL ON THE CARDS
On a walkabout in Ramsgate, Farage even revived his bold prediction that he could one day take over the Conservative Party.
Asked if he still stood by his past claim that he didn’t want to join the Tories but rather take them over, he said: “That could happen… Our voters loathe the Conservative Party, it’s the last thing they’d ever want me to do.”
“And frankly,” he added, “if I do a deal with someone, I shake their hand, I look them in the eye and I trust them. I don’t trust them.”
However, with whispers of a rival right-wing party brewing under Rupert Lowe and Ben Habib, the battle for Britain’s conservative soul is only just beginning.
Watch this space
