Could a Tory-Brexit Party alliance actually work?

In 2013, I started promoting a tactical voting alliance between Conservative and Ukip voters. It wasn’t just about avoiding the calamity of a Labour victory at the 2015 General Election – which looked likely then – it was also about trying to secure a parliamentary majority for an EU referendum. I called the campaign ‘Country Before Party’.

Given that a potential alliance between the Tories and the Brexit Party is something that almost half of Conservative Party members are in favour of, I thought it might be worth recounting my experience. Having once been a tub-thumper for this type of arrangement, I’m now less enthusiastic.

It’s happened before, of course. To give what feels like the most pertinent example, in 1981 a new political party entered into a formal pact with an established party, whereby each agreed not to field candidates in those seats where the other was most likely to win.