Nigel Farage will be the next Conservative leader?

[Squareplate]

I saw one article suggesting, now he has a seat, he will defect to become Tory leader, and thought it was a joke, but actually there are lots of mainstream media suggesting the same thing.

Tory members will love it and if he'd been insitu yesterday, they may well have won?

For me it's an appalling thought, but it feels scarily possible?

Just heard he is the bookies 4 th favourite !

Bookies favourite just means that's where the money is. The names you've heard of are always top (for this, football managers etc,) early on.

I don't know if he will be the next leader but he did say in 2023 that he would be Tory leader 'by 2026' so I would imagine that's the game plan. Logically, it makes sense for Reform to join the Conservatives.

Won't happen. Just hoping it is not Suella Braverman.

...to be Conservative leader behind kemi badenoch, priti Patel and Tom T ( can't spell his surname) I would argue he is more effective and more charismatic than any of them.

I wouldn't vote for any of them, but from the party's POV, I think he has a much better chance of winning.

I'm at the stage now where I think he needs brining out into the open. Let's see him in the light - there is no good letting him stay in the dark where people can project onto him all kinds of hopes and fears.

Flush him out and let's see what he's really made of.

(I suspect just hot air and whinging)

I can see the Tories going down this route.

He would have to do some work if he led the party. That won't happen.

... in that case bring back Jeremy Corbin as labour leader!

Yes I see this too. Make him put his money where his mouth is where he can do no harm. I can't stand him, makes my skin crawl but I do believe this is the next move.

He likes scrapping, would he actually want to put the work in to be a leader?

I doubt he’ll survive 5 years in the Commons - too many bars.

He needs to stay in Reform and build them up. I heard a talk where he said he had no interest in being in the Conservative Party. I'd like to see Kemi Badenoch as their new leader. She's the only one who talks any sense.

My Dad, who used to be a proper lefty and has become horribly right wing as he's got older, is looking forward to seeing Farage shaking up the Commons. He will be good at that, even if I don't expect to agree with him.

As leader of the opposition, his "job" would be making the party electable and shockingly, I think he could do that. The opposition itself (whoever's in charge) is going to be pretty ineffective, until they get to a place where they could win an election.

Farage doesn't want to work, and being Tory leader would be too much effort for him. He'll do nothing for Clacton, he'll be drinking in the Commons bars and whining for the next five years without ever achieving anything, except pocketing dark money - enriching himself and making nothing any better for anyone else. If he was leading the Tories, he'd be expected to show up and he can't be bothered with that.

It must take a lot of hard work to actually lead the official Opposition, especially after such a beating. Farage couldn't do it - but I put nothing past the Tory party members!

I'm not sure about this narrative.

Love him or loathe him, he's achieved a lot. Some of us don't like what he's achieved, but he's has a greater impact on the country than anyone I can think of. He hasn't done that by being lazy. It might not be sitting at a desk dealing with detail work, but he must have put the hours in.

The Tory party is a divided mess that regularly turns on its leader.

I don't see why anyone would want that role.

Boris nearly pulled it off with his "back me or I'll sack you" purge, but then was such an utter bellend that he became untenable

I really don't think that the Tory party has the slightest grasp of how unappealing its petty gripes and internal squabbling makes them

Yes, this is my concern. As a figurehead, he would do well for them, like Boris, who the members would have back like a shot, if they could.

Yeah - this is what I mean.

No one knows him so they just project what they want/think onto him.

I think he's a grifter who's never done a decent days work in his life. The OP thinks he is hardworking, if not in a traditional manner.

In truth, we're probably both projecting. That's why I want him exposed and challenged so we can all see what he's actually made of.

Boris Johnson is another one who wouldn't want the hard work that being Opposition leader would entail.

He couldn't even discipline himself with an 80 seat majority.

I really hope this doesn't happen, but fear it is possible. With that arsehole Farage, anything seems possible.

We need a definitive left and a definitive right , all mainstream parties hovering in the middle leads to much swaying , defecting and uncertainty with not much radical change either way .

Absolutely no chance!

All Farage does is spout idealistic populist nonsense, saying he will do things that are not possible but that will please those who don’t know any better, in the safe knowledge that he won’t have to deliver because he won’t be in charge.

He is a divisive, racist, misogynistic arse.