Tories should bring Farage into the fold, says new Father of the House

The Conservatives should welcome Nigel Farage into the fold and do more to appeal to Reform voters, the new Father of the House has urged.

Sir Edward Leigh, now Britain’s longest-serving MP, suggested it would be up to Tory members whether to make Mr Farage party leader if he wished to join.

The 73-year-old also argued the Conservatives had made the “fundamental mistake” of not doing enough to deliver on Brexit while ignoring voters’ concerns about record levels of mass migration.

It comes after Reform won more than four million votes on Thursday, giving the party five seats in the Commons, while the Tories were reduced to 121 MPs in a historic wipeout.

Sir Edward told BBC Look North: “We’ve got to, I think, invite Reform voters and Farage to join us. Because otherwise in five years’ time, we are going to have a similar debacle. We can’t have a divided Right-wing vote.

“I would absolutely welcome him in. If he wants to stand for leader, that would be a matter for our members.”

The MP for Lincolnshire went on to blame his colleagues on the Tory benches for taking public support “for granted” and prioritising their own careers over delivery.

“Too many MPs were self-serving. But our fundamental mistake was the political mistake of not taking Reform-type voters seriously and we should have delivered properly on Brexit.

“We should have stopped all this mass legal migration. Then we should have stopped the boats. And that was our biggest error.”

Mr Farage said on Friday he would not want to join the Conservatives in their current form, insisting he did not know what they stood for or believed in.

He has insisted he is committed to Reform in the long term and vowed to “professionalise” the party in the wake of a series of rows involving offensive comments made by its candidates while suggesting he wants to be a serious candidate for prime minister by 2029.

Reform came second to Labour in almost 100 constituencies but did the most damage to the Conservatives on election night, unseating Tory MPs in Clacton, Boston and Skegness, Great Yarmouth, South Basildon and East Thurrock. 

Sir Edward has represented Gainsborough since 1983 and became Father of the House when he was re-elected on Friday.

The previous Father of the House was Sir Peter Bottomley, who was elected to the Commons in 1975 and was the MP for West Worthing from 1997.

But Sir Peter, 79, lost the seat to Labour’s Rebecca Cooper on Thursday in what was his 14th time running at an election.