Asked if he was seeking to join or destroy the Conservative Party, Nigel Farage replied: “They’ve destroyed themselves already, they don’t need my help. What Conservative Party? Is there a Conservative Party? I haven’t spotted it.
“All I can see is two big social democrat parties. If you look at economies and many, many other areas, the policies are virtually identical. Yeah, sure, there’s VAT on school fees and there are one or two things. But I can’t think there’s ever been less of a choice, I can’t think there’s ever been such a lack of debate, genuine debate.”
Mr Farage said Red Wall voters felt “totally betrayed, totally let down… it’s not just immigration, it’s self-employed, small business owners, feeling like Brexit should have brought some easing of the rules and in some case the rules have actually got worse”.
Of Reform voters, he said: “Even if we packed up tomorrow, they wouldn’t go back to the Conservatives… They’ve wrecked it for themselves. They’ll come out with the same argument, they’ll say that a vote for Reform is a vote for Labour. But when the public realise this election is a foregone conclusion, Labour are going to win and they’re going to win quite big, you can argue actually that a vote for the Conservative Party is a wasted vote.
“And given you know Labour are going to win, why not vote for something you actually believe in? The Conservatives will be in opposition but they won’t be an opposition. They’re too divided, too ineffective.”