Kemi Badenoch insisted the Tories can still turn it around. (Image: Getty)
Kemi Badenoch told how her “heart breaks” when Tories tell her they are voting Reform because their hopes will be dashed. The Business Secretary admitted it has been a difficult election and every seat is being fought like a marginal, even ones like hers that have huge majorities of well over 20,000.
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Nigel Farage held a glitzy rally of 5,000 cheering supporters yesterday as he insisted his new political movement is the only story voters are talking about. But the party has been hit by a racism row and claims over its approach to Russia in recent days.
Ms Badenoch insisted the Tories can still turn it around but said the onslaught from Reform was hard. She told GB News: “It does hurt. It is a difficult election. I’m fighting my seat like it’s a marginal. Normally it would be a very reliable Conservative seat.
“There is no safe seat in this election. All of my colleagues are fighting like we are fighting marginals. I have a strong record locally. I think that it is going to be fine.
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“But when I knock on doors I am meeting former Conservative voters voting Reform and it breaks my heart because I know they are not going to get what they think they will get.
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“I think we can still turn it around. What I would say to those voters is ‘I understand’. We have all had our frustrations, even those of us who have been in government. At what has happened.
“We think Immigration is too high. The Prime Minister thinks immigration is too … but we are bringing it down.”
Ms Badenoch is a potential future leader of the Conservative party and called for the party to find a way to appeal to the voters it is losing to Reform on the right and the Liberal Democrats in the centre.
She said: “It needs to be one that occupies the whole of the centre right, not just the centre, because that's where we're losing to Reform.
“We're being hit on the left, being told that we’re too right-wing, and hit from the right and being told that we’re too left-wing. We've got to be a little bit broader in that direction.
“At the moment, we’re a very broad church, we’re a very broad coalition, which is why sometimes we disagree. You say too broad, but clearly not so broad that we haven't been able to keep Reform voters.
“There needs to be some kind clarity that comes into place, people need to know that we are Conservative, people need to know that we are on their side, that we will defend them, that we will not let the left-wing activists come for them, we won’t let Just Stop Oil block the roads and stop them from going about their daily business.“
Mr Farage told the Reform rally in Birmingham he had launched his electoral bid to offer an alternative to “slippery Sunak” and Sir Keir Starmer, who he said has “the charisma of a damp rag”.
He said the Britain is in societal and cultural “decline” and people “are getting poorer”.
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“A country that’s forgotten where we come from, a country that doesn’t seem to value our culture, our inheritance of what we wish to pass on for our children – so I felt I couldn’t stand aside with all these things going on,” Mr Farage.
But a Reform UK candidate criticised the “failure of leadership” over allegations of racism within the party and backed the Conservatives.
Liam Booth-Isherwood, who was standing in the seat of Erewash, announced he was dropping out of the race and would instead be endorsing Tory contender Maggie Throup to “stop Labour”.
He said: “Over the past few weeks, I have been increasingly disillusioned with the behaviour and conduct of Reform.”
Campaigners for Reform in the Clacton seat Mr Farage hopes to win in Essex were recorded by an undercover journalist from Channel 4 making racist comments, including about the Prime Minister, who is of Indian descent.
The footage showed canvasser Andrew Parker using a slur about Mr Sunak and suggesting migrants should be used as “target practice”.
Another activist described the Pride flag as “degenerate” and suggested members of the LGBT community are paedophiles.
Mr Farage has suggested that Mr Parker, who is an actor, was used as a “plant” by Channel 4 in its undercover investigation into his campaign – a claim the broadcaster strenuously denies.
Rishi Sunak will today (MON) hold a rally of Tory supporters as he warns the next few days are crucial.
Just 130,000 voters currently considering a vote for Reform or Liberal Democrat could stop Labour forming the next government.
The Prime Minister will tell supporters: “We have foud days to save Britain from a Labour government. Labour would hike taxes by more than ￡2,000 for every working family, would shunt our politics to the left and change the rules to ensure that they can stay in power for decades.
“If they get the kind of majority, the super majority that the polls suggest, they will set about entrenching themselves in power. They will rewrite the rules to make it easier for them to stay in office and harder for anyone to replace them. So, don’t surrender your voice to Labour on Thursday.
“I tell you this: once you have handed Keir Starmer and Labour a blank cheque, you won’t be able to get it back.
“A Labour government would be bad for our country, and an unchecked Labour government would be a disaster from which it would take decades to recover.
“We Conservatives will stand up for you and make sure your voice is heard, your values represented.”
Mr Sunak will warn that Labour wants to rig the voting system.
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“We already know that they want to give 16 years olds the vote,” he will say. “They don’t want to do that because they think they are adults, but because they think they will vote for them. What other changes will they make to make it harder to remove them from power?
“Votes for EU nationals? Votes for prisoners? A whole new voting system designed to allow politicians to stitch things up behind closed doors and shut you out?
“Don’t let them do that. Don’t take that risk. Don’t surrender to Labour.”
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