A senior Tory has refused to rule out the possibility of making an electoral pact with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Alex Burghart, the shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, repeatedly dodged the question when quizzed by Trevor Phillips on Sky News.
The frontbencher was shown polling putting the Tories in third place behind Reform and Labour.
Pointing out that Farage has previously spoken of his desire to “destroy” the Tories, Burghart said: “That makes for a pretty difficult first date, doesn’t it?
“This is the sort of speculation that crops up when there’s nothing much else to write about in the papers.”
Phillips then asked him: “Let us get this absolutely clear. Let us suppose that Nigel Farage said ‘actually, when I said I wanted to destroy the Conservative Party, I didn’t mean I want to destroy the Conservative Party. I want to work with the Conservative Party’.
“Are you completely ruling out the possibility that a Conservative Party may reach an understanding, accommodation with Reform?”
Burghart replied: “Let’s extend my analogy further. So you go on a first date with someone and somebody says ‘I want to destroy you’ and then slightly later in the first date they say ‘oh no, forget what I said at the start’.
“This is not a sensible conversation, Trevor. The fact is that at the moment there is one party that says it wants to completely take us out. We are on a mission to try and get a majority at the next election and that’s what we’re going to do under Kemi.”
Phillips then accused Burghart of “going a million miles around the simple question ‘are you ruling out a deal with Reform, ever’?”
The Tory MP replied: “That is not a question for me, Trevor. I am not that important. I don’t get to make that call.”
The clash came as separate polling by JL Partners for the Sunday Times showed Reform UK are on course to win 102 seats at the next election – up from the five they currently have.
The poll suggests Labour will lose 211 seats but will still be the largest party with 200 MPs, just ahead of the Conservatives on 190.
