Farage’s return is Rishi Sunak’s worst nightmare

From the moment the Conservatives called this summer election they seemed doomed: Sunak had failed to deliver on his five promises, much of the electorate had given up on him, and Starmer looked set for power. But there still seemed like the possibility of a hung parliament, or perhaps Labour only getting a small majority, rather than a landslide. 

Last week, my polling firm J.L. Partners did a poll for the Rest is Politics podcast, which showed the Tories pushing Labour down to a 12-point lead. That was nothing to get excited about, but with Reform UK still on 12 per cent, it looked like there might be a way for the Tories to squeeze third-party voters to reduce Labour’s advantage further.

Even before Farage announced that he would be taking over as leader of Reform, this was already looking more difficult.