The confrontation comes after an enormous ballot confirmed the Tories may end the subsequent election with fewer than 100 seats – and that Reform alone may cost them 50 constituencies.
By Tim Baker, Political reporter
The Conservative Social gathering chair has referred to as Reform UK chief Richard Tice a “threatening bully” after the latter warned he may embarrass one other senior Tory.
The row between the 2 events comes within the wake of a devastating ballot for the federal government, which confirmed the Conservatives threat falling under 100 seats in parliament after the subsequent election.
However the identical evaluation of 15,000 voters discovered that, if Reform have been to face apart, the Conservatives would get nearer to 150 seats.
Reform UK, in its earlier iteration because the Brexit Social gathering, didn’t compete in seats the Tories already held on the 2019 election – as then prime minister Boris Johnson sought a mandate to “get Brexit completed”.
However right this moment’s row makes the probabilities of an analogous pact on the subsequent election look vanishingly small.
The row erupted after Conservative deputy chair Jonathan Gullis criticised Mr Tice and the number of Reform candidates within the Mail On Sunday.
Mr Tice then posted on social media: “With a particular Easter message to Tory MP Jonathan Gullis: Given the a number of bits of embarrassing private info we have now on you, I recommend you pipe down in your assaults towards me.”
In response, Richard Holden, who’s chair of the Conservative Social gathering, posted: “What a threatening bully Richard Tice is exposing himself to be.
“Foolish man.”
Mark Jenkinson, a authorities whip, mentioned Mr Tice was “not only a political weathervane, but additionally a thin-skinned bully – who knew?”.
Learn extra:
Who’re Reform and what do they stand for?
Conservatives dealing with ‘extinction occasion’ – Farage
A vote for Reform UK is a vote for Labour – Holden
Reform UK chief threatens extra defections
Mr Gullis’s criticism got here in an article which claimed Reform – of which Nigel Farage is director – had chosen candidates for the Commons who embrace a convicted animal abuser and a fortune-teller who offered spells for £200 on the OnlyFans web site.
The MP advised the Mail On Sunday: “Reform says its candidates have been vetted and given that each one of this info was within the public area, we are able to solely assume this solid of characters handed Mr Tice’s muster.
“We’re clearly not simply speaking a couple of ‘few rotten eggs’ right here. If you’re selling candidates banned from taking care of canines, how are you going to actually say they’re able to taking care of the pursuits of their constituents?”
The stand-off between the 2 events reached new ranges when one in all Mr Gullis’s predecessors as deputy chair, Lee Anderson, defected from the Conservatives to Reform.
There have been studies that Reform is courting extra Tories – together with Mr Gullis – though he has denied it.
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Bob Seely, the Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight, advised The Solar On Sunday that Reform “tried to tempt” him weeks earlier than Mr Anderson’s defection.
However he mentioned he knew “a duff deal after I see it” – branding Reform a “rag tag group with no hope of governing or main”.