"Look Nigel Farage wants to destroy the Conservative Party."

All six Tory party leadership contenders have said they would not let Nigel Farage join the party if they were to become leader, seemingly shutting the door to the Reform UK leader in the medium term at least.

Whoever replaces Rishi Sunak, the leadership contenders, Mel Stride, James Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch, Priti Patel, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat have all said that Farage would not be welcome in the Conservative Party should they become leader.

It’s a stark contrast to when Rishi Sunak was Prime Minister. Sunak had repeatedly refused to rule out welcoming Farage into the Tory fold, insisting that the Conservative Party was a ‘broad church’.

It comes as some senior Tories had suggested doing a deal with Reform UK, with Suella Braverman, who had hoped to replace Sunak before deciding not to throw her hat in the ring this time, saying that the Tories had to find a way of working with Farage’s party.

Mel Stride became the latest leadership hopeful to rule out any deal with Reform. When asked on Chopper’s Political Podcast if he would let Farage become a Tory party member, he replied ‘no’, before adding, “Look Nigel Farage wants to destroy the Conservative Party.

“This is one of the things that he says reasonably frequently. There’s no question of that.”

Priti Patel told the Telegraph that Farage could not join the Conservative Party, adding ‘Reform UK cost us seats in the election, so that’s not even a topic of discussion for me’.

Jenrick has also ruled out Farage joining the party, as have Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly. Cleverly also criticised the Reform UK leader for his role in fanning the flames of division during the far-right riots, saying that Farage had to choose between being a “serious politician or a social media content creator”.

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward

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