The truth about Nigel Farage’s coup. Insiders reveal to ANDREW PIERCE the ‘high and mighty’ Tory advisors with ‘blood on their hands’ after convincing Rishi to snub Nigel and the frantic helicopter ride that sealed the deal

During the helicopter flight back to the English countryside London – after campaigning behind the legendary Red Wall in the north of England – there was only one topic of conversation Nigel Farage and four of his closest aides.

They tried to convince him to change his mind and run for parliament.

They were deeply affected by the way he was harassed on Saturday in the Ashfield constituency in Nottinghamshire, where Lee Anderson was defending the Reform seat after defecting from the government. Tories. And as the helicopter moved south, Farage’s opinion quickly changed in their direction.

When they arrived at Battersea heliport, Farage narrowly avoided a collision Rishi Sunak and the Hollywood star Tom Cruiseboth of whom had landed there just minutes earlier.

Buoyed by his reception in the north – and earlier this week in Dover in Kent – Farage decided to have a pint at The Ship, a nearby pub in the trendy Wandsworth area of ​​south-west London. The capital has never been a fertile area for reform as it is dominated by liberal-minded bien pensants. Yet Farage was asked for literally dozens of selfies and repeatedly applauded by locals.

Nigel Farage raises a glass with outgoing reform leader Richard Tice in a pub in Clacton yesterday

Mr Farage accepted the leadership of Reform UK on Monday as he announced he will stand as MP for Clacton in Essex

The politician arrives for a press conference at Glaziers Hall in London on Monday

The self-styled man of the people was then taken to his home in rural Kent in his chauffeur-driven car. On Sunday morning, shortly before he switched off his phone to go fishing, he had made a decision: he would run for Parliament after all.

Later that day, he made a series of calls to his senior advisers, including Andrew Reid, his long-serving attorney and one of his closest friends.

But one person left out was Richard Tice, who became the leader of the reform in 2021 after it Brexit Party in 2020.

It wasn’t until Monday that Farage called Tice, who was campaigning in Skegness, 150 miles north of London. Tice was surprised to hear that Farage was also taking over the leadership of the party.

Outgoing Reform President Richard Tice was left out

Senior reform officials, including Tice and deputy leader Ben Habib, had to rush back to London at 4pm on Monday to attend the televised announcement of Farage’s U-turn at The Glaziers Hall in the City.

“To say Tice was blinded is an understatement,” said one expert. ‘Nigel wasn’t risking anything leaking so kept it tight.’

Farage would have found it impossible to pull off such a spectacular coup had he been the leader of any other party, as they all require their leaders to win over members.

But Reform is a public company and since Farage is the majority shareholder – with a 53 per cent stake, compared to Tice’s 33 per cent – ​​what he says applies. The fact that Tice had campaigned tirelessly over the years counted for nothing.

The crown had been seized by Farage, a man rarely seen on the campaign trail.

“It’s typical Nigel,” says one Reform member. ‘We do all the hard work and Nigel steps in for the sprint finish. He waited in the wings for the right moment. As the largest shareholder, he is the real boss. Some people wonder why Reform is still a company. Now you know it. It suited Nigel and his supporters. Richard knows deep down that this is for the best because he can’t match Nigel’s charisma.’

Before launching his palace coup, Farage sought extensive legal advice. Tice was not merely the leader of the reform: one of his firms, Tisun Investments, kept the party afloat by lending it money in tranches ranging from £10,000 to £50,000. By the end of last year, Tice Reform had borrowed a total of £1.4 million. Could he withdraw that money – and what would happen if he did?

However, there was no discussion about which constituency Farage would fight for. It was always going to be the seaside town of Clacton in Essex, where former actor Giles Watling is defending a 25,000-vote majority for the Tories.

As early as February, Farage had secretly sent two of his most trusted aides to Clacton to take the political temperature. He was extremely encouraged by the feedback. Now early polls suggest he could be elected to the House of Commons on his eighth attempt.

His announcement this week was a devastating blow to Rishi Sunak and his faltering campaign. Could it all have been so different? About six weeks ago Dame Andrea Jenkyns – who was first elected as Tory MP for the northern constituency of Morley and Outwood in 2015 – became the Work big beast Ed Balls – had a private meeting with Sunak in his Commons office.

Jenkyns, a committed Tory and arch-Brexiteer, had opposed everything from reform to defection. One admirer said: ‘Andrea is a real Tory. She would never have abandoned the party and would never make a deal with anyone who tries to disrupt the party she loves.”

Backed by other Brexiteers, she told Sunak that the best way to “neutralize” the threat from Farage was to implement major reform of the European Convention on Human Rights. She also urged the Prime Minister to work well with the Tories’ ‘Farage wing’ in the form of an ex-Immigration Minister. Robert Jenrick and former Home Secretary Dame Priti Patel.

At one point, Farage’s home number was passed to number 10, but no one picked up the phone to extend an olive branch.

The Prime Minister’s parliamentary private secretary, Craig Williams, was involved in the talks, but they collapsed after Sunak’s unelected advisers, including his chief of staff Liam Booth-Smith, intervened.

Farage’s announcement this week was a devastating blow to Rishi Sunak and his faltering campaign

“They can’t bear to even mention Farage without a pin up their nose, they are so high and mighty,” says a figure close to the trial. ‘If the defeat is as bad as the polls suggest, those Sunak advisers will have blood on their hands.’

The impact of Farage’s decision to stand will not be felt in the polls in the coming days. He planned to spend the summer in America to participate Donald Trump in the run-up to the US presidential elections. He released a statement to that effect last month, a move that prompted accusations of “betrayal and treason” in some quarters.

Farage, like the majority of Sunak’s own cabinet, had wrongly assumed the election would take place in October or November. “Nigel was going to do some warm-ups for Trump,” said a friend. “He had it all mapped out.”

Initially, Sunak’s decision to start early seemed to pay off as reform was caught unawares. The party was still fielding around 150 candidates and did not have a campaign organization, let alone the money to fight a national push.

But now it appears that the early election decision, imposed on Sunak by the same advisers who blocked all contact with the Farage camp, has backfired terribly.