Come back Nigel, all is forgiven, say quarter of Tory voters

Farage ponders return to frontline politics after being ‘overwhelmed’ by surge of public support

MORE than a quarter of British voters would consider voting for a new party led by Nigel Farage.

A poll shows that 12 per cent of the public would be very interested in backing such a venture if it was launched next year, while 16 per cent would be quite interested.

Mr Farage refused to rule out the possibility of launching a party, and said he had been “overwhelmed” by requests to do so from voters who had emailed him and approached him at the supermarket.

The former Ukip leader stood down as head of the Brexit Party, which has been renamed Reform UK, in March 2021.

At the time, he declared his mission to see Britain out of the EU had been accomplished and that the UK was “seeing the benefits of Brexit and the EU itself turn into a laughing stock”.

But the poll, conducted for The Sunday Telegraph by Public First, found that 38 per cent of Conservative voters would consider supporting a new party led by him, with 43 per cent of Brexiteers saying the same.

Among those who would consider it, the most popular reason for doing so, among 62 per cent of respondents, was that “we need someone to stand up for ordinary British people”.

Other popular reasons included that “we need to cut illegal immigration” and “we just need real change”.

Since leaving frontline politics, Mr Farage has become a host on GB News, a Right-leaning television channel.

He told The Telegraph he would not rule out running in a Westminster election again but had concerns about his chances of success because of Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system.

“I’ve been overwhelmed in the last month, every day on email, even going to the shops, by people saying: ‘You have got to do something, someone’s got to speak up for us, they don’t represent us anymore,’” he said.

“I managed to win two national elections under proportional representation, but the last time I tried an all-out assault at a general election, I won four million votes and one seat.

“So I’m a little soured by that experience. I won’t rule it out of hand, but there’s a lot to think about, given the electoral system.”

Mr Farage said he thought the Government was making “some catastrophic errors”, including by launching a “war against the little guy” by raising corporation tax and dividend taxes, which have been mooted ahead of this Thursday’s Autumn Statement.

Support for a new Farage-led party was higher among those who described themselves as “very comfortable” financially, among whom 60 per cent said they would be “very interested” or “quite interested” in voting for him.

There was low support among 2019 Labour voters, of whom 21 per cent said they would be interested, and Liberal Democrats, of whom 23 per cent said the same.

Since Mr Farage left the Brexit Party, it has rebranded as Reform UK, and is led by Richard Tice, a former businessman and MEP.

In the same poll, 6 per cent of voters said they would definitely vote for Reform UK, and 7 per cent said it was “likely” they would.

Mr Tice is targeting protest voters at the next election and told The Telegraph this week he hoped to attract people who thought Brexit had been “badly done” with “common sense policies”.

“You can tell by the mood of the nation at the moment [that] people are despairing,” he said.

“People are cross. People are losing hope in so many ways. There’s so much potential – but it’s being wasted.”

Asked whether they would be likely to vote for the Conservative Party at the next election, just 13 per cent of voters responded that they would “definitely” do so, although 40 per cent said definitely would not.

Those who said they definitely would not vote for the Tories included 29 per cent of Brexiteers, with another 12 per cent saying they “would be unlikely to vote for them”.

The number of people who said they had made their minds up about Labour was more balanced, with 27 per cent responding they would definitely not vote for Sir Keir Starmer’s party and 25 per cent saying they definitely would.

Overall, 40 per cent said they wanted an immediate general election.