Senior Tories Voice Concern That Party Has No Clear Plan To Fight Reform

Kemi Badenoch is under pressure to explain what the party's position is towards Reform (Alamy)

“There is no consolidated plan for Reform,” complained one shadow cabinet minister, describing the current approach to attacking Nigel Farage's surging party is “ad hoc”.

Talk to someone associated with the Conservative Party and they will almost certainly admit that they are worried about its future.

On Wednesday evening, Tory MPs past and present bemoaned the state of the party at a central London book launch for Simon Hart – who served as chief whip to former prime minister Rishi Sunak – over white wine and cheese-flavoured breadsticks.

“What the fuck is the Tory Party?” said one former Conservative MP.

MPs, strategists and casualties of last year's general election have their theories for why the Tories were defeated so heavily in July. The Conservative Party suffered its worst defeat in more than 200 years last summer, leaving Sunak's successor Kemi Badenoch with a lightweight opposition (121 MPs) and a demoralised party to rebuild from the ground up.

But one point which unites all wings of the party is that the Tories will not return to winning elections unless they reduce the Reform vote to a rump.

Nigel Farage’s party won four million votes in July, gaining five House of Commons seats and ultimately costing the Tories dozens in contests with Keir Starmer's Labour.

Reform has been on a rapid rise since then, topping some opinion polls and eyeing major gains, and potentially its first mayoralty, when local elections take place in May.

While recent evidence suggests Reform is taking votes from several directions, the Tories continue to suffer the most from Farage's rise. Research for PoliticsHome published in February found that the biggest group of vote switchers since the July election was people who backed the Conservatives last year but had shifted their support to Reform.

Badenoch is adamant that she will not strike an electoral pact with Farage, while the Reform leader is laser focused on destroying the oldest political party in the Western world.

Recent weeks have given Tories a reason to believe that Reform is not without weakness.

Its response to developments in Ukraine has given Farage's opponents the impression that he is politically vulnerable on the question of Vladimir Putin and Britain's national security. 

It is on that subject that shadow ministers and Tory MPs have stepped up individual attacks on Farage. James Cartlidge, shadow defence secretary, criticised the Reform leader’s claim that Ukraine should set out a "timetable" for elections while it is at war with Russia. "They’re not going through local govt reform – they’re in an existential war,” he posted on X.

Another shadow cabinet minister argued that there is an opportunity for the Tories in focusing on Reform's grasp of the economy. They told PoliticsHome that policies outlined by Reform MP Rupert Lowe in recent weeks add up many billions of pounds – and could be used to illustrate the risk Reform poses to public finances. 

But while shadow ministers have their own ideas about how to take on Farage, those who spoke to PoliticsHome said there is no formal strategy for combatting their rivals on the right.

“The most effective area to attack Reform is Ukraine, Farage's link to Trump – who polls very badly in the UK — and his past comments on Putin which are completely out of kilter with public opinion,” said a current Tory strategist. “Kemi has, but Priti [Patel, the shadow foreign secretary] is silent even though that’s her brief. She’s missing an open goal.

"The public are itching for some leadership on this — the polling is crystal clear...

"If there is a plan to take on Reform, nobody knows it."

Another insider said: “There is no Reform strategy.

"We used to have a UKIP attack unit but there is nothing like that now."

The alleged lack of Reform strategy contrasts with Labour, which in recent weeks has instructed its attack team to step up its focus on Farage's party — and to noticeable effect.

PoliticsHome recently reported that Labour plans to attack Farage on three fronts: Putin, the NHS and the Reform leader's past support for former prime minister Liz Truss' mini-budget.

This week, five Labour back benchers elected in July, who all have military backgrounds, wrote in The House that Reform MPs "spew Putin’s propaganda" and "reject British values".

The Conservatives currently do not have the same resources and financial arsenal as Labour after losing donors and personnel following their devastating general election defeat.

The opposition party has tried to compensate for the loss of income and media coverage with YouTube content. The party has increased its subscriber base by 35,000 in three months, with 85 per cent of its following from the UK. Badenoch has also made appearances on alternative media such as Triggernometry podcast, which Farage has appeared on before.

The Leader of the Opposition is vocal on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, as she was during her time as a cabinet minister, with all of her tweets signed off by her personally.

But this work is not doing enough to allay the concerns of some frustrated Tories.

"It typifies the inertia of the leadership," complained one current Conservative MP.

"All these basic things are not being addressed and people's patience is wearing thin."

The Conservative Party was approached for comment. 

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