Latest elections: UK Reformers overtake Tories for first time in new poll | Political news

Nigel Farage could not have hoped for better news when he took to the stage to debate Penny Mordaunt, Angela Rayner and his rivals from the smaller opposition parties on television.

The dramatic news that his UK Reform Party had overtaken the Conservatives in the latest YouGov poll, with 19% to the Conservatives' 18%, meant he had his trademark letterbox smile on his face for virtually the entire debate.

He began by declaring in his opening speech: “We are now the opposition to Labour!” And he ends by boasting: “I have the courage to face the crowd. Please join the revolt.”

Throughout the debate, Mr Farage had a swaggering and casual air. He laughed and mocked the anti-Brexit leader of the SNP in Westminster, Stephen Flynn, who stood next to him, and appeared to enjoy being in the minority in one against the other smaller parties on Brexit and immigration.

The other story in this debate concerns the second round of the bruising battle between Penny Mordaunt and Angela Rayner over Labour's tax plans, while Ms Mordaunt pointedly left Mr Farage alone and even engaged in political flirting with him. Why is this possible?

The Commons leader was relentless in her tax attack on Labor from start to finish. But Labour's deputy leader stood firm and resolutely stuck to the Starmer-Reeves script, even when Ms Mordaunt directly challenged the question of whether Labor would increase capital gains tax.

This was not in the Labor manifesto, Ms Rayner insisted, repeating Sir Keir's mantra earlier in the day. So it wasn't a no, Ms Mordaunt replied. Once again, as in the first televised clash between the two men last week, in her tax attack on the Labor Party she was like a stuck disc, but it might stay.

But while Ms Mordaunt relentlessly tore into Ms Rayner, she uttered not a word of criticism of Mr Farage. This seems to indicate that conservatives are terrified of him and that the party leadership could possibly cave in and make a deal with him before July 4.

When it was his turn to ask an opponent a question, after Ms Mordaunt had challenged her on capital gains tax, the Labor deputy leader replied: “Would you welcome Nigel Farage to the of the Conservative Party?

It was a question like a firecracker and one to which the Conservative minister answered so adroitly and equivocally that she seemed to be embarking on a process of rapprochement with the British reformist leader, politically speaking, of course! – rather than giving him the cold shoulder.

She told the audience that, like Mr Farage, she was a supporter of Brexit and believed that if you cannot reform the European institutions, you should be prepared to leave them. Oh!

This was of course a reference to leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, which right-wing Conservatives are calling for, and a clear solicitation of support from Conservative MPs in a future leadership campaign. Shamelessly, his conservative detractors will complain.

But then she said: “Nigel is a Labor Party enabler. » Yes, that's the official conservative line, but it wasn't exactly a savage rebuke. Also note that she called him “Nigel” and not Mr Farage.

Never has a rebuff been delivered with so much grace. She is in the middle of a leadership maneuver, make no mistake. Just like last week, when she said Rishi Sunak was “completely wrong” to leave the D-Day ceremony in Normandy early.

In a peroration towards the end, Mr Farage called Labor and the Conservatives “mushy SDP parties in the middle”, condemned the House of Lords as “an abomination” and a “total disgrace” because it is full of donors and supports electoral reform. .

It was his night, thanks to the opinion poll. The battle for Number 10 could be a fight between the Conservatives and Labor. But the Tories' war on Reform UK is a fight to the death for the future of the centre-right in British politics.

And, if Mr Farage is right, this is a battle to become the official opposition to a Labor government after the July 4 election.