Nigel Farage attempting to get Ben Houchen to defect
Tees Valley mayor has met with Reform UK leader
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Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen met with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage before Christmas, as the latter attempts to woo the most senior directly-elected Conservative to his own party.
The Financial Times reports Houchen was approached by Reform last year, before a meeting was held with Farage and a staff member in mid-December.
After Robert Jenrick’s defection last week the staff member once again approached Lord Houchen, saying Farage wanted to meet him for lunch.
Lord Houchen told the FT he had no plans to change allegiance, saying: “I’ve always been a Conservative. Loyalty is important to me.”
Houchen is the most senior directly-elected Tory in the UK, and his defection would signal a huge boost for Reform. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to see an impact locally, as Conservative party members and activists in Stockton - the real campaigning engine behind much of Houchen’s success in the Tees Valley - would also likely switch.
It might even lead to MP Matt Vickers switching his shade of blue, too.
Houchen appears to be holding out for a time when the Conservatives, who are currently polling at below 20 per cent, see a resurgence, and a probable merger with Reform.
“It may take five, 10 or 15 years but I believe that the Tories and Reform will come together,” he said. It’s a suggestion he made last Spring, too.
On joining Reform, Houchen said: “Fundamentally, for me it’s economic competence, the way the country’s going, people are going to start looking at their own pockets . . . Once you get to that level of economic scrutiny, Reform doesn’t stack up.”
He seems oblivious to which party set the country on “the way it’s going” that has made people to start “looking at their own pockets”.
For his part Farage told the FT his party “have not reached out [to Houchen]”, which, if true, leaves a question as to who actually approached who.
Really intrigued by this growth strategy for Reform...hoovering up dissenting Tories helps the narrative of the Conservatives as a spent force and Reform as the new, true voice of that political space...but, does there come a point where being full of former Tories completely invalidates any argument that Reform is a party of change? The party's public face is going to be a bunch of Tories who were part of a significant electoral collapse, and Reform will continue to be defined exclusively by how they relate to Conservative polling.