Nigel Farage has slammed Tory MP Danny Kruger after he suggested Reform UK standing against the Conservatives would split the vote at the next general election.
The pair came head-to-head on GB News where Kruger, who leads the socially conservative New Conservatives movement, said Reform UK standing against the Tories would “bring Labour in”. He has previously warned the rise of the far-Right and the last 13 years of government could lead to the Conservatives being “obliterated” at the ballot box.
Speaking on GB News, Kruger said: “You need to be supporting those Conservatives who are standing up for the proper principles and the values that the public want not splitting our vote or encouraging alternative candidates to bring Labour in.”
Farage, who founded Reform UK as the Brexit Party in 2018, claims he has heard the same claim “30 blooming years”. He said it was a similar criticism facing UKIP.
He said: “I’ve heard this for 30 blooming years. ‘Don’t vote UKIP’. But if you hadn’t voted UKIP we’d still be members of the European Union. You lot would never have got our independence back, it would never have happened.
“You’ve given us broken Britain, Labour offer us no alternative.”
Kruger, interrupting Farage, asked “what are you going to give us? Labour”. Before Farage responded: “No, complete reform of the whole political system.
“The House of Lords has to go. We have to have a proper election.”
As Farage was responding, Kruger suggested voting Reform UK would bring in the “Greens, pinks, the liberals”.
Reform leader Richard Tice recently claimed Conservatives had started asking the party not to stand against them in the next general election – which is expected later this year. He said: “In the new year, the special pleading has already started. ‘Oh, please don’t stand here. Please don’t stand. I’m one of the nice guys.'”
Tice however said there would be no special deals “under any circumstances” with the Tories. In 2019, the Brexit Party did not stand candidates in 317 seats that were contested by the Conservatives.
The decision was made after Boris Johnson pledged to leave the UK by 2020.
