Nigel Farage has held secret talks with controversial ex-Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings about how Reform UK can take on the Tories, it has been revealed.
The two men put aside their past differences to discuss how Mr Farage’s party can replace the Conservatives on the right of British politics, sources said.
Reform won five seats at July’s general election – as the Tories suffered their worst ever defeat – and have since surged in opinion polls to edge ahead of Labour in some surveys.
Mr Farage has said there is a ‘good chance’ he can be the next prime minister and it has now emerged how Mr Cummings met with the Reform leader before Christmas.
A friend of Mr Cummings, who served as Boris Johnson‘s chief adviser in No10 between 2019 and 2020, revealed how their ‘friendly chat’ covered a range of subjects.
‘They had a friendly chat about the general scene,’ the ally told the Sunday Times.
‘About [Donald] Trump and Doge [Elon Musk‘s cost-cutting drive in the US], about how No10 and the Cabinet Office really work, about the catastrophe of the Tory party and about what Reform has to do to replace the Tories.’
The friend of Mr Cummings insisted there was no discussion about the former Vote Leave campaign director working for Reform as ‘he doesn’t want a Westminster job’.
Nigel Farage has held secret talks with controversial ex-Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings about how Reform UK can take on the Tories, it has been revealed
A friend of Mr Cummings, who served as Boris Johnson’s chief adviser in No10 between 2019 and 2020, revealed how their ‘friendly chat’ covered a range of subjects
Since being forced out of Downing Street, Mr Cummings has become a frequent critic of the Tories and senior Conservative politicians – including current party leader Kemi Badenoch
They added: ‘He spends his time mostly helping people outside Westminster and a few inside Westminster he thinks are trying to build interesting things, regardless of their party or whether they’re political or official or in the forces.’
A Reform source confirmed the talks between Mr Farage and Mr Cummings, but said the pair’s discussions centred on how to overhaul Whitehall.
‘Nigel and Dom did have a meeting – they discussed how to take on the blob’, the source said.
Since being forced out of Downing Street, Mr Cummings has become a frequent critic of the Tories and senior Conservative politicians – including current party leader Kemi Badenoch.
In a blog post earlier this month, Mr Cummings noted how Reform were ‘trying to work out how to replace’ the Tories, who he claimed were in a ‘doom loop of stagnation’.
‘After Kemi is replaced, there’s some chance her replacement finally realises the Tory party is dead unless it re-engages with core issues of productivity and state capacity,’ he wrote.
A new JL Partners poll for the Adam Smith Institute found that Mr Farage is now seen as the best prime minister in more than half of constituencies.
The survey of more than 6,000 British adults, conducted between 13 to 21 February, showed Mr Farage was the preferred choice as premier in 335 UK constituencies.
By contrast, Sir Keir Starmer was seen as the best PM in 291 constituencies, and Mrs Badenoch was the preferred choice in just six seats.
Tom Lubbock, co-founder of JL Partners, said: ‘Keir Starmer is in a race for popularity with Nigel Farage and at the moment this data shows that Nigel Farage is the preferred choice for prime minister in more than half of constituencies versus the Prime Minister.
‘That extends to one in 10 of those who actually voted Labour last year who now say that Nigel Farage would be a better PM than the man who actually holds that office – Keir Starmer.’
A new JL Partners poll for the Adam Smith Institute found that Mr Farage is now seen as the best prime minister in more than half of constituencies
The poll was carried out before Reform were plunged into civil war as Mr Farage clashed with Rupert Lowe (left), one of his MPs who has now been stripped of the party whip
The poll was carried out before Reform were plunged into civil war as Mr Farage clashed with Rupert Lowe, one of his MPs who has now been stripped of the party whip.
Mr Lowe has vociferously denied allegations of workplace bullying and violent threats, which saw him reported to police.
The Great Yarmouth MP has instead claimed to be victim of a ‘witch hunt’ after he criticised Mr Farage’s leadership.
Tory shadow education secretary Laura Trott would not be drawn on whether Mr Lowe would now be welcome to join the Conservative Party.
She told Sky News: ‘I’m not focused on any individual MP in Parliament.
‘What I’m focused on is the number of people who are thinking about voting Reform who we need to convince to come back to the Conservative Party, who I recognise we lost their trust at the last election.’
The Conservatives have selected a senior executive from the National Federation of Builders to stand for them in the upcoming Runcorn and Helsby by-election.
Sean Houlston was announced as the Tory candidate for the contest, which was triggered by ex-Labour MP Mike Amesbury saying he will quit the House of Commons following his conviction for assaulting a constituent.
Amesbury won the Runcorn and Helsby seat for Labour last July with a 14,696-vote majority, as Reform came second and the Tories third.
Reform will be eyeing a breakthrough at the upcoming by-election, but Mr Houlston -who came third in the neighbouring Widnes and Halewood constituency last year – said: ‘Politicians like Reform don’t care about our area.
‘They’re only interested in national politics. Forgetting the local issues and the people as they play politics.
‘At this by-election, I’ll be standing up to Starmer’s Government for the pensioners that have had their heating taken from them.
‘For our small businesses facing higher bills. And for our farmers, faced with losing their farms. But more than anything. I’m standing to save our green spaces.’
Labour has selected Cheshire West and Chester councillor Karen Shore as its candidate.
Reform is yet to announce its candidate for the by-election, the date of which is also still to be revealed.
