Could Farage save the Tory right?

Talk to almost any right-wing Tory MP these days and one of the first things they raise – with me anyway – is whether or not the Reform party is going to cost them their seats.

‘It makes no sense getting rid of people like me. The way we are going, we will only send 100 MPs back after the election and nearly all of them will be from the One Nation wing. They are the ones who tend to have the big majorities. So we get a Labour landslide and a left-wing Conservative party. How is that going to help anyone?’ one MP complained to me recently.

There is mounting incredulity that Reform leader Richard Tice appears to be sticking to his rule that the party should stand everywhere and to be positively delighting in the prospect of more Tory carnage to match Andy Street’s ousting as West Midlands metro mayor – partly thanks to a chunky Reform vote.