Jack Walters
Guest Reporter
Nigel Farage has “pushed the button” on a Tory defection deluge by sending letters to 1,352 Conservative councillors ahead of the 2025 Local Elections.
Farage, 60, is hoping Tory councillors sympathetic to Reform UK will join a growing number of defectors at a local level enlisting into the populist party’s ranks after the 2024 General Election.
In a copy of a letter obtained by GB News, the Brexit supremo told Tory councillors in Cambridgeshire: "It won’t have escaped your notice that, just eight months away from your re-election, Reform UK continues to surge.
"We won more than four million votes at the last election, returning five Members of Parliament, and every national poll since then shows us closing the gap between us and the Conservative and Labour parties.
"I’m writing to invite you to join our movement. Since July, we’ve been assembling a national election winning machine at historic speed with hundreds of branches already established and over 90,000 active members ready to campaign. By the time of the English county council elections next May, our ground campaign capabilities will be formidable.
"Meanwhile, your party has spent months fighting amongst itself over who can best imitate Reform UK. It faces the choice between a man who’s undergone the most remarkable political damascene conversion and a woman who won’t leave the ECHR.
"As you’ll be aware, Reform’s national success was replicated in Cambridgeshire - we finished second in North East Cambridgeshire and significantly increased our support in all other seats in the region.
"Over 3,500 people have applied to be a Reform UK candidate for the May elections next year; and we are about to select someone to stand in your seat. Once somebody has been selected, we will not stand them down. However; we understand that hundreds of Conservative candidates are despondent at the current state of the party.
"Many of you can see that the Tory brand is broken – not just thanks to the endless scandals it has faced, but also the reality that the party has betrayed the values that it once stood for. Reform UK will defend and celebrate those values. As such, our door is open should you consider standing for Reform UK.
"If you believe in this country and share our values of family and community, I encourage you to join us. Given the imminent selection of a Reform UK candidate to stand against you, if you are interested in this proposal please reply to this email no later than 6pm on November 6, 2024."
GB News also understands that councillors received different letters depending on their local authority.
In a video released this morning, the Reform UK leader stressed that not all current Conservative councillors would get the nod to stand for the populist party, particularly if they insist on bringing with them “Tory infighting”.
Farage also looked to reassure councillors who were waiting to see whether Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick wins the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Leader of the Opposition, arguing: “The brand is broken, it’s done.”
The Clacton MP confirmed he had "pushed the button" on sending the letter this morning, vowing to "throw the kitchen sink" at the 2025 Local Elections.
Dismissing Farage’s push, ex-European Research Group chief Steve Baker sarcastically said: “That would make such a difference in the House of Commons. Good stunt though.”
Reform UK is intending to contest in all of the 21 county councils, Doncaster’s Metropolitan Borough and the nine unitary authorities holding polls on May 1, 2025.
Essex, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Nottinghamshire will undoubtedly emerge as major targets, with Doncaster and the Isle of Wight also potentially proving fruitful.
Reform UK will look to field hundreds more candidates than it managed to put up in 2024.
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Farage’s party put up just 323 candidates across 2,655 wards, contesting just 12 per cent of seats.
The figure was much lower than the 62 per cent contested by the Greens, 68 per cent challenged by the Liberal Democrats and the more than nine-in-10 wards with candidates from both the Tories and Labour.
However, GB News covered Reform UK’s earlier push to enlist new recruits ahead of the 2025 Local Elections.
Reform UK’s current crop of councillors stand at 28, with two coming from victories in Havant and another win in Blackpool.
Despite some recent success at the ballot box, an overwhelming majority of Reform UK councillors bolstered the populist party’s ranks after defecting.
Ashfield MP Lee Anderson last month released a video showing Bolsover District Councillor Carol Wood joining Reform after serving as the Tory group’s leader in Dennis Skinner’s former patch.
It came just hours after South Basildon & East Thurrock MP James McMurdock announced the defection of Cllr Alex Anderson.
Local defections might not make the headlines in SW1 but with Southend Councillors Tony Cox and Darryl Jones also joined around the same time.
Wales separately witnessed a number of high-profile defections after independent councillors Alan Slade, David Thomas and Jason O’Connell crossed the floor in Gwent.
However, Anderson claimed at the time that there was no concerted effort by Reform UK to win over disaffected councillors.
“There is no campaign at all,” Anderson told GB News. “Councillors are contacting us on a regular basis but they all have to be vetted to ensure they are of the highest quality and meet all of our high standards.”
If Farage’s latest push is anything to go by, there’s certainly a concerted effort now.
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