Nigel Farage has rejected an "irrelevant" merger with the Tory Party and vowed Reform UK is "here to stay".
Writing for The Telegraph, the Reform UK leader made his thoughts clear after a new survey showed over half of Tory members want the two centre-right parties to merge together.
A far higher number - 70 per cent - would like the Conservative Party to pursue a "closer relationship" with Farage's populist party.
However, Farage poured damp water on the idea last night.
He said: "Reform is here to stay. The Tories had their chance and they blew it.
"All talk of whether a future deal between me and the Conservatives can be done is irrelevant.
"It is not even on my agenda, I simply don’t trust them.
"There is a misunderstanding about the new centre-Right in the Western world. Whether it’s Donald Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party in America or the Freedom Party’s performance in Austria, the old centrist, conservative, stuffy approach to politics no longer inspires."
Farage added: "Political historians will say that the Conservatives can recover and Reform will fade away, but I don’t believe them. I’m used to being told that I’m wrong.
"For years, people told me we would never leave the EU.
"They said I was wasting my time. But I kept going and we won."
All four leadership hopefuls - Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat - have all ruled out a merger with Farage.
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Tugendhat vows to introduce 100k migration limit - 'I'll set a legal cap'
Tom Tugnendhat has committed to reducing net migration to below 100,000 per year.
The Shadow Security Minister said: “But we must solve as well as stop, which is why I’ll set a legal cap on migration of 100,000, not a target, not an ambition, but a cap.
“This is about visas, not about foreign courts. Let me tell you something my opponents probably won’t. This isn’t simple. We issued the visas because businesses need the staff for our care homes and our hospitals, to look after our families.
“So how do we square this circle? Well we need to fix migration by fixing the gaps in education and skills and in transport and in housing so we can recruit at home and not abroad. Now I will end the caps on apprenticeships and use the immigration skills charge to train our own people.”
Tugendhat calls for Thatcher-style revolution in pitch to Tory members
Margaret Thatcher entering Downing Street in 1979 PAEx-Security Minister Tom Tugendhat has called for a Thatcher-style economic revolution in his final pitch to Tory members.
He said: “Real growth, not the illusion of growth that has been boosted by migration, has barely shifted in the past 30 years. Now that’s left us poorer and more vulnerable. We need to free the economy.
“We need a new conservative revolution. That’s what Margaret Thatcher did, that’s what we need to do again and we can do it.”
Tugendhat appeals to Reform voters - 'Conservative values!'
Former Security Minister Tom Tugendhat has appealed directly to Reform UK voters in his closing speech at the Conservative Party's 2024 conference.
He said: "Unlike Labour I will never apologise, ever, for who we are and the country we can be. From Churchill to Thatcher, our party has led the fight for freedom, united against the threats that we faced.
“But we need to face the truth, many who share our values did not vote for us. So let me speak directly to those of you who have supported us in the past but didn’t this time.
“If you went to Reform I want to show you the Conservative values that we share. If you went to the Lib Dems I want you to see the opportunities that only we can deliver. If you went to Labour I want to show you why freedom, not state control, is how we build.
“If you stayed at home, I want to make you proud to vote Conservative again.”
Gove champions ‘mercurial’ Cummings as Tories mull over path back to power
Gove champions ‘mercurial’ Cummings as Tories mull over path back to powerGBNEWSMichael Gove has championed the “mercurial” Dominic Cummings over the Vote Leave supremo’s analysis about the ever-changing centre-ground of the country.
Cummings, who continues to snipe at Boris Johnson after quitting as his No10 Chief of Staff in November 2020, considered the political landscape of the UK to pivot away from more clear-cut lines of left and right during the 2016 Brexit campaign.
Speaking at a More in Common fringe event yesterday, Gove name-dropped Cummings after being asked about whether the Tory Party should move to the centre after losing the 2024 General Election.
He said: “I am, as everyone knows, a fan of the work of my mercurial colleague Dominic Cummings."
'Not a cat's chance in hell I retire' vows Farage as Reform nightmare to continue for 'delusional' Tories
Nigel Farage says there is “not a cat’s chance in hell” he is set to retire soon after Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick admitted he is hopeful he does so.
The leader of Reform UK joined Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster to discuss the attacks he has received from Tory leadership hopefuls waking up to the threat his party poses.
Tugendhat criticises Jenrick over 'upsetting' video of dead soldier friend
Tom TugendhatGettyEx-Security Minister Tom Tugendhat has criticised Tory leadership rival Robert Jenrick over an "upsetting" video which claimed the SAS “kill rather than capture terrorists” because of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
In an interview on the BBC, Tugendhat said: “What’s particularly upsetting is that video is using a piece of footage of some of the people I served with, one of whom there died shortly after that film was taken in an accident.
“And he’s not able to defend himself from the accusation that is being levelled against him. That’s footage of a soldier in northern Afghanistan in around 2002.
“I do not think we should be using footage of our special forces in operations… I would not put that video out. In fact I’d pull it down.”
What to expect today?
Shadow Security Minister Tom Tugendhat will make the opening leadership address at 10.45am.
Former Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will follow Tugendhat, before ex-Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick.
Shadow Housing Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who is seen as the grassroots' current favourite, will make the final speech.