The Reform leader has little reason to parley anyway. He’s just bagged a whopping £9m donation from Christopher Harborne, an aviation entrepreneur who dabbles in crypto and takes a close interest in our politics from his home in Thailand. Twenty-one former Tory MPs have traded blue for turquoise by joining Reform in the past year, though Danny Kruger, the MP for East Wiltshire, is the only sitting parliamentarian to have defected. The Tories are constantly destabilised by rumours that more of their number are set to jump ship: Robert Jenrick has been forced to deny that he will do the rat run. Reform reckons it will come out on top at next May’s elections to the Welsh Senedd, Scottish parliament and in English local government. A deal with the Conservatives would undercut Mr Farage’s claim to represent a clean break with the politics of the past. Zia Yusuf, his head of policy, scoffs that “failed Tory MPs” are not likely to be chosen as Reform candidates. It is not in their interests to look like a refugee camp for discredited Conservatives.
