Rishi Sunak and Reform UK leader Richard Tice (Image: GETTY)
Reform UK is ”talking to Tory MPs” - and it is entirely possible that some will defect before the next general election, one of the party’s electoral candidates has said. David White, 59, acts as an informal recruiter for disgruntled Conservatives who are considering jumping ship - and describes the level of interest as “genuinely overwhelming”.
Currently a metropolitan borough councillor representing Rockingham ward on Barnsley Council, Mr White spent two decades as a Conservative Party member.
He started talking to Reform UK about 18 months ago after becoming increasingly disillusioned by the infighting which saw the Tories switch leaders twice in the space of just three chaotic months, ditching first Boris Johnson and then Liz Truss.
When Rishi Sunak, her replacement as Prime Minister, decides to go to the country, almost certainly later this year, Mr White, Reform's prospective parliamentary candidate, will contest the newly created constituency of Barnsley South - where he believes the Tory vote will “collapse”.
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David White with Richard Tice and Ben Habib, Reform UK's leader and deputy leader, in Wellingborough (Image: David White)
Reform, led by Richard Tice, has high hopes for the seat, previously known as Barnsley East. In the 2019 election, Reform took 29.2 percent of the vote, one of its strongest performances in the country, while in neighbouring Barnsley Central, it did even better, taking a 30.4 percent share.
In addition to targeting a seat in Parliament, Mr White is also acting as a point of contact for people who, like him, are considering making the switch - and admits he has been taken aback by the volume of calls he’s receiving.
He told Express.co.uk: “I didn't realise the genuinely overwhelming level of interest and activity. On a daily basis, it's just ridiculous the number of people who are coming through.
“These range from Conservative parish councillors to ward councillors to deputy mayors to mayors.
Richard Tice and David White (Image: David White)
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“At a higher level obviously the party will be talking to MPs, but anything below that they come through to me and they're all saying exactly the same thing.
“They can’t support the Tories any longer, they are getting ridiculed on the doorstep, they're going to get kicked out at the next election.”
Mr White said Reform even recruited a Tory party member while campaigning in advance of next month’s Wellingborough by-election, in which deputy leader Ben Habib is a candidate.
While not providing specific figures, he described the number of people contacting him each week as “significant”.
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David White says the voters he is canvassing 'do not trust' Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
He continued: “We've got parliamentary candidates who've been through the Parliamentary Approval Board (PAB) for the Conservatives.
“We've got candidates who have been through that process who've been offered any constituency in the country. That means that they are golddust and a number of those will be jumping over to us very shortly. You're talking quality people here.”
Speaking about his experience of canvassing in Barnsley, Mr White said: “These are massively Labour areas and I ask people who they are going to vote for and they say they don’t know.
“These are people who have voted Labour all their working lives who are saying they don't trust Starmer and they don’t trust Labour now, because they recognise they occupy the same ground as the Conservatives, wealthy Islington champagne socialists.”
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He stressed: “Labour have lost their once-privileged position of being the party of the working people and people have recognised they are just not cared for anymore.
“It’s not a bellwether, this area, because if you look at the electoral calculus, Reform’s given a 17 percent chance - but I just know it's a lot higher than that, from what I'm hearing from Labour people. And the Conservative vote round here will collapse anyway.”
Asked whether sitting Tory MPs might themselves opt to defect, Mr White said: “There's always rumours about Lee Anderson, ￡400,000 bribes and all this nonsense, but we are talking to MPs and there's a massive amount of interest.
“And what some of these guys are saying is we don't really want to wait till after the election when we are shot to pieces because that looks like we're just jumping ship.
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“As for whether they will do so, that's a little bit of my pay grade but let me say this: it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.”
He explained: “Parish councillors, ward councillors, deputy mayors, mayors, leaders of councils are coming across, that's happening now.
“This isn't going away. It's growing. They can't be ignored anymore.”
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