{"id":26263,"date":"2023-11-06T16:59:17","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T16:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/berkshiredoulas.com\/?p=26263"},"modified":"2023-11-06T16:59:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T16:59:17","slug":"nigel-farage-backed-by-majority-of-tory-members-to-return-to-party-poll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/berkshiredoulas.com\/politics\/nigel-farage-backed-by-majority-of-tory-members-to-return-to-party-poll\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigel Farage backed by majority of Tory members to return to party – poll"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jacob Rees-Mogg says Farage ‘broadly a Tory and always has been’<\/h3>\n

Nigel Farage is backed by the majority of Tory members to return to the party, new polling suggests.<\/p>\n

The survey by the Conservative Home website found 72 percent said he should be admitted to the party if he seeks membership.<\/p>\n

In the poll of 714 Tory members, some 24 percent said no, while four percent were unsure.<\/p>\n

Mr Farage left the Conservatives in 1992 over the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, which laid the foundations for the European Union.<\/p>\n

He has since founded Ukip and the Brexit Party.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There has been speculation over Mr Farage rejoining the Conservatives after he attended the party’s conference in Manchester last month in his capacity as a GB News presenter.<\/p>\n

But Mr Farage has dismissed suggestions he would become a Tory member again.<\/p>\n

Speaking in October, he said: \u201cWould I want to join a party that\u2019s put the tax rate up to the highest in over 70 years, that has allowed net migration to run at over half a million a year, that has not used Brexit to deregulate to help small businesses? No, no and no.<\/p>\n

\u201cI achieved a lot more outside of the Tory party than I ever could have done from within it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Farage has the backing of senior Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg.<\/p>\n

Mr Rees-Mogg told the BBC last month: “I\u2019m a friend of Nigel\u2019s. He\u2019s a very effective campaigner and I think most of his political views are ones I share.<\/p>\n

“I think Nigel is broadly a Tory and always has been. If he wanted to join, I can\u2019t think his membership would be refused.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not rule out a return to the Tories for the former MEP when asked in October.<\/p>\n

He said: “The Tory party is a broad church. I welcome lots of people who want to subscribe to our ideals, to our values.\u201d<\/p>\n