“I’d be very surprised if I were not Conservative leader by ‘26. Very surprised"
It shows just how far to the right the Tories have drifted, that former UKIP leader Nigel Farage believes he will be leading the Conservative Party by 2026.
Farage left the Tory party in the 1990s over the party’s stance on the EU, however with the party’s drift to the extreme right, the GB News host clearly feels more at home with the current Tory party.
He also attended Conservative Party conference earlier this month, where he spoke at a fringe event and proved to be popular among the Tory grassroots. Rishi Sunak also hinted that Farage could be welcomed back into the Tory party. Asked by GB News if Farage would be welcomed into the party, Sunak refused to rule it out, saying: “Look, the Tory party is a broad church. I welcome lots of people who want to subscribe to our ideals, to our values.”
Farage hinted that he could be leading the Tories by 2026 when speaking during a book launch in Westminster on Tuesday.
He told the PoliticsHome website that he would soon be doing Mr Sunak’s job.
“I’d be very surprised if I were not Conservative leader by ‘26. Very surprised,” he told the website.
“They think I’m joking,” he said, referring to others present, adding: “I’m serious.”
The arch Brexiteer later tried to row back on his comments and said they were meant ‘in jest’.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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