Boris Johnson claims 'Pied Piper' Nigel Farage has 'destroyed the Tory government' as he warns…

July 6, 2024, 07:17

Boris Johnson has said Nigel Farage played a “significant role” in “the destruction of the Conservative government” and warned the Tories against a merger with Reform UK.

The former prime minister called Mr Farage the “Pied Piper of Clacton”, after the constituency he won in the election that saw the Conservatives ousted from power.

The Reform Party won five seats in total, but received more than 14% of the vote, much of which could have gone to the Conservatives.

The number of Conservative MPs fell to just 121, a drop of 255 – the party's worst electoral performance in modern history.

And Mr Johnson said reform was “the Yucatan asteroid in this catastrophe”.

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He wrote in MailOnline that he spoke to a Conservative candidate who expected to win but later realised that thousands of voters would instead turn to the Reform Party.

“Repeat this phenomenon on the political landscape and you begin to understand the cause of the landslide,

“I fear that the cigar-smoking Pied Piper of Clacton played a major part – as he probably intended – in the destruction of the Conservative government.”

Mr Johnson, who won a landslide victory in 2019 but resigned from Downing Street amid scandals in the summer of 2022, offered advice to his party for the future.

He wrote: “When we return to power, do not be in too much of a hurry to get rid of leaders who have successfully won elections.

“As I never tire of saying, some polls gave us only two or three points behind, at the time when I was forced to resign in what was in reality nothing more than a media charivari.”

Mr Johnson said: “I say to my Conservative colleagues that we are the oldest and most successful political party in British history.

“We are capable of endless regeneration. We do not need to try to absorb others, to try to acquire their vitality like a transfusion of monkey glands.

He added: “We have to occupy the space ourselves and my humble suggestion to 121 is that they need to rebuild that giant coalition of 2019, go back to some of the big themes that proved so effective that we won seats across the country.”

Some Conservatives have argued 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 has self-destructed.

Meanwhile, new Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer has gotten down to business, appointing Angela Rayner as deputy prime minister and Rachel Reeves as the UK's first female chancellor on Friday.

Ms Rayner was among a group of Labour MPs who arrived at Number 10 on Friday afternoon.

Downing Street later confirmed she was the first cabinet member to be appointed, also taking on the role of levelling up secretary.

Shortly afterwards, Rachel Reeves was confirmed as Chancellor, becoming the first woman to hold the post in British history.

David Lammy was appointed Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper Home Secretary, John Healey Defence Secretary and Wes Streeting Health Secretary.

Ed Miliband has been appointed Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Bridget Phillipson Education Secretary and Shabana Mahmood Justice Secretary.

The first cabinet meeting of the new government is expected to take place later on Saturday.