Is the Farage ‘Putin ally’ row putting off Reform voters?

So far in this election campaign the consistent theme has been Tory turmoil. A large part of this has been caused by Nigel Farage and his decision to return to frontline politics and lead Reform. Depending on which pollster you pick, Farage’s party is either narrowly behind the Tories on voting intention or ahead of them. The impact of this is that many Tory candidates in once safe seats of majorities of 20,000 plus now fear they could narrowly lose next week when voters go to the polls.

But is Farage finally feeling some pressure himself? On Friday, Farage sat down with Nick Robinson as part of the BBC presenter's series of election interviews where he was asked about Putin. He told Robinson: 'I said I disliked him as a person, but I admired him as a political operator because he’s managed to take control of running Russia.'