Sunak was offered a deal to stop Farage but rejected it
The Independent|June 05, 2024
Rishi Sunak could have avoided the expected election catastrophe facing him and the Conservative Party if he had agreed to make a deal with Nigel Farage.
DAVID MADDOX
Sunak was offered a deal to stop Farage but rejected it

The Independent has learnt that Tory Brexiteer MP Andrea Jenkyns and former Leave.EU communications director Andy Wigmore attempted to broker a deal between the Tories and Reform. Sources have suggested that Mr Sunak “was interested” but dissuaded from going ahead by his key advisers.

Around six weeks before the prime minister made his rain-sodden announcement of a snap election on the steps of Downing Street, he is understood to have met with Ms Jenkyns who presented him with a plan to save the Tories.

While Ms Jenkyns did not wish to comment on that story, she has in the past publicly called for the party to get Mr Farage involved, bring back Boris Johnson, bring in right-wingers through a major reshuffle, and have some more “red meat” rightwing policies. One, to be put at the heart of the next election manifesto, was understood to have been either leaving the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) or seeking to reform it.

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