Reform UK’s Ann Widdecombe has slammed claims from GB News host Tom Harwood that her party are paving the way for “Starmergeddon” by taking votes off the Conservative Party.
This comes after Labour claimed two landmark by-election victories over the Tories, who saw voters abandon them in their droves. At the same time insurgent party Reform UK, led by business mogul Richard Tice, saw his candidates perform well, appearing to snatch votes from Rishi Sunak’s party from the Right.
In Wellingborough, Reform candidate Ben Habib earned 13% of the vote and in Kingswood in South Gloucestershire Reform’s candidate took more than 10%.
The 27-year-old presenter asked the former Tory minister, in the company of Novara Media’s Aaron Bastani and former Institute of Economic Affairs director general: “I’ve heard your leader Richard Tice talk about Starmergeddon. He is terrified of the prospect of Keir Starmer as Prime Minister, thinks he would be a disaster. Surely the Kingswood numbers mean he’s making it more likely?”
Ms Widdecombe, who served as an MEP for Reform UK’s previous incarnation as the Brexit Party, retorted: “Oh I hear this argument all the time, you know. And they say well we’re splitting the Tories.”
Making her point, the 76-year-old made a show of looking under the desk, saying: “I’m trying to find these Tories, because I don’t see any Tories. We have a red opposition, we have a pink government. Now, what Reform is offering is genuine common sense policies, what would have been the old Conservative policies.
“That’s what we’re offering and frankly, as I say, we heard this argument before – we fell for it in the last general election, we ain’t falling for it again.”
Whether or not Reform is taking votes from the Tories, Labour is unquestionably on the march. Sir Keir Starmer’s party saw a 16.4% swing in its favour in Kingswood and a staggering 28.5% swing in Wellingborough.
Labour’s win in Kingswood means the Conservatives have now lost nine by-elections in the course of this parliament – one more than the eight defeats suffered by the 1992-97 Conservative administration led by John Major.
It means the Conservative government has lost more by-elections in a single parliament than any government since the 1960s.
