Relax Kemi, history's on your side in the battle with Farage

Conservative MPs are worried. They weren’t worried when Andrea Jenkyns, formerly one of their number, defected to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party.

- JOHN RENTOUL

“I thought she already had,” was a common reaction.

They were uneasy when Tim Montgomerie – the founder of the Conservative Home website, the online voice of the Tory grassroots – defected last week. He represents a strand of mainstream opinion in the party, suggesting that many members could follow him.

They were properly spooked, however, by last week’s unsourced report that Elon Musk was considering a $100m donation to Farage – which prompted follow-up stories about how the American billionaire could get around the ban on foreign donations to British parties.

If there was less to that story than met the eye, here comes Nick Candy, the property magnate and husband of Holly Valance. A former Tory donor, he is now planning to donate to Reform, and has been appointed treasurer of the party, in charge of raising more money. He says he intends “to raise enough funds for them to win the next general election”.

I have more faith in British voters than to believe that they can be bought – and I think the fundamentals are still against Farage.