Why a Tory-Reform 'pact' is no longer taboo among Conservative MPs (2025)

Reform and the Conservative Party should agree an informal non-aggression pact at the next General Election, Tory MPs are arguing, after Kemi Badenoch ruled out any “national level” deal.

It comes after the Tory leader said that Conservative councillors should enter into a coalition with Reform if that is the only way to take control of a local authority after next month’s local elections.

Labour and the Lib Dems were widely suspected of an informal pact at last year’s General Election not to campaign strongly in constituencies where one had a chance of beating the Tories but the other didn’t, in order to maximise the chances of ousting the then government.

Both parties denied such a pact.

Badenoch ruled out any “national level” deal with Reform UK last week because she said its leader, Nigel Farage, wants to destroy the Conservative Party.

However, Conservative MPs are again speculating about a possible informal agreement between the Tories and Reform UK at the general election after her additional remarks over allowing Tory councillors to form coalitions with their Reform counterparts.

Badenoch issued a bleak warning to Conservatives last month, predicting “extremely difficult” local elections on 1 May.

These polls represent her first electoral test as Tory leader, following her party’s loss in last year’s general election. She predicted her party’s decimation if the council elections mirrored July’s results.

Polling shows Reform will probably win many Tory seats, with Badenoch hinting at potential Tory-Reform council coalitions.

A pact with Boris Johnson

In 2019 Farage said his then Brexit Party would not field any candidates against the Tories after then Tory leader Boris Johnson committed to leaving the EU.

Farage now says Reform has “no intention” of forming coalitions with the Tories, claiming the party “betrayed” Brexit.

With Reform now threatening both Labour and the Tories, Badenoch has been dogged by questions about what sort of deal she could pursue in the run-up to the general election, which the Government must call by mid-2029.

Now some of her MPs are suggesting striking an informal deal where right-wing candidates could avoid competing and splitting the vote.

“A non-compete arrangement, such as we had with the Brexit Party in the 2019 election – I would have thought that does make a lot of sense,” Conservative MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown told The i Paper.

“There’s no point going in and then both of us letting in a Liberal or Labour or a Green administration by competing with each other. So, I think there’s a lot to be said for that, and I think it’ll become more obvious as time goes by, but it’s still early days yet.

“I think in politics one never says never to anything. So, who knows what will happen in the next four years or so?” he added.

An ‘understood accommodation’

Another Conservative MP agreed. “There could potentially be an understood accommodation where you might say to Reform, ‘We will stay out of your way if you stay out of ours.’

“Both of us are on the right of centre, and if Reform against Conservative candidates end up with a Labour MP, then everybody loses out,” the MP told The i Paper.

“We could say to them ‘Reform actually loses out and the constituency loses out’.

“I can see why it might be a moderately sensible thing to do that.

“But the idea of the Conservative Party, which is the oldest and most successful political party – although obviously not at the moment – formally joining up with Nigel Farage is absolutely for the birds. It’s a really weird idea,” the source added.

A third Tory MP told The i Paper they had been thinking about an informal pact with Reform. “I’m not against it in principle, but it depends on a lot of things and it’s still early days. But I am making a point of being friendly to them when I see them in Parliament,” they said.

In response, a Conservative Party spokesperson pointed to remarks made by Badenoch last week.

“I have said categorically that I am not doing deals with Reform. Nigel Farage has said that he wants to destroy the Conservative Party,” she said.

Earlier this month, Tory MP Esther McVey suggested the Conservatives should let Reform win the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, also being held on 1 May,as part of a wider electoral pact. Polling suggests Reform are likely to win the Parliamentary seat from Labour even without the Tories standing aside.

Keep the Tory right united

Meanwhile, within the Parliamentary Tory Party there is a determined effort to keep the right of the party both united and influential.

While the various factions which divided the Tories during the Brexit years and ensuing electoral defeat have largely melted away, one is still active. The Common Sense Group – an informal partnering of Eurosceptics sympathetic to culture wars led by veteran MP Sir John Hayes – is alive and kicking.

“It’s persisted as opposed to other groups which are on ice,” one Tory insider told The i Paper.

“It also emphasises how much the tribes are held together via social bonds. The invitation ‘Come for a drink with Sir John’ is appealing to impressionable new MPs.”

Not every Conservative MP predicts a “unite the right” deal with Reform, agreeing with Badenoch that any formal pact would be impossible.

“Anything can happen in politics, as we’ve seen with Donald Trump, with Brexit, with Covid, but at this moment in time, I take as I find, which is what Kemi has said,” the Tory MP told The i Paper.

“So on the basis of what she’s said, I don’t see how that could lead to some sort of deal. Pessimism about our future is misplaced. Reform are very good at doing harm to themselves, so you’ve got to present a positive alternative, which is what we’re working to do.”

Another Conservative MP on the left of the party, asked by text whether they would be in favour of a non-compete pact with Reform ahead of the general election, simply replied with the vomiting emoji.

Reform appears to share the sentiment. “The Tories broke Britain for 14 years. They are the architects of net zero and mass immigration. We have no intention of doing deals with the Tories. They can never be trusted ever again,” a Reform UK spokesman said.