Boris Johnson claims 'Pied Piper' Nigel Farage 'destroyed Tory government', as he warns against merging with Reform
6 July 2024, 07:17
Boris Johnson has said that Nigel Farage played "a significant part" in "the destruction of the Tory government", as he warned the Conservatives against merging with Reform UK.
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The former Prime Minister labelled Mr Farage the "Pied Piper of Clacton", after the constituency he won in the election, which saw the Conservatives dumped out of office.
Reform gained five seats overall but won over 14% of the vote, much of which may have otherwise gone to the Conservatives.
The number of Tory MPs dropped to just 121, down 255 - the party's worst electoral performance in modern history.
And Mr Johnson said that Reform was "the Yucatan asteroid in this catastrophe".
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He wrote in MailOnline that he had spoken to a Conservative candidate who had expected to win, but realised late on that thousands of voters were going to Reform instead.
"Repeat that phenomenon across the political landscape, and you begin to grasp the cause of the landslide,
"I am afraid that the cheroot-puffing Pied Piper of Clacton has played a significant part - as he no doubt intended - in the destruction of the Tory government."
Mr Johnson, who won a massive landslide in 2019, but resigned from Downing Street amid scandals in summer 2022, offered advice to his party going forward.
He wrote: "When we get back in, don't be too hasty to get rid of successful election-winning leaders.
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"As I never tire of telling people, some polls put us only two or three points behind, in the days before I was forced to resign in what was really a media-driven hoo-ha."
Mr Johnson said: "I say to my fellow Conservatives, we are the oldest, most successful political party in British history.
"We are capable of endless regeneration. We don’t need to try to absorb other parties, to try to acquire their vitality like a transfusion of monkey glands.
He added: "We need to occupy the space ourselves – and my humble suggestion to the 121 is that they need to rebuild that giant coalition of 2019, get back to some of the big themes that proved so successful that we won seats across the country."
Some Conservatives have advocated for Mr Farage to be invited into the party, although others such as Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat have played down the suggestion.
Mr Farage himself has said he does not want to be a Conservative politician, claiming the party had destroyed itself.
Meanwhile Labour's new Prime Minister Keir Starmer has got straight to work, naming Angela Rayner as his deputy prime minister and Rachel Reeves as the UK's first female chancellor on Friday.
Ms Rayner was among a raft of Labour MPs to arrive at Number 10 on Friday afternoon.
Downing Street later confirmed she was the first appointed cabinet member, with her also taking on the role of Levelling Up secretary.
Shortly after, Rachel Reeves was confirmed as chancellor, becoming the first woman to take the role in British history.
David Lammy was appointed as foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper as home secretary, John Healey as defence secretary and Wes Streeting as health secretary.
Ed Miliband was appointed as secretary of state for energy security and net zero, Bridget Phillipson as education secretary and Shabana Mahmood as justice secretary.
The new government's first Cabinet meeting is expected to take place later on Saturday.
