Sunak lacks charisma and I’m more Reform than most Reform candidates, Tory MP says

Conservative MP Lia Nici likes what Reform says on immigration and tax cuts – UK Parliament/PA

A Red Wall Tory MP has said Reform UK has “a lot of ideas people like” and admitted she does not think Rishi Sunak is a charismatic leader.

Lia Nici, who became the first Conservative MP for Great Grimsby in almost 100 years in 2019, boasted she was “more Reform than most Reform candidates” at a live panel event in her constituency on Thursday.

Support for Richard Tice and Nigel Farage’s party has approximately doubled in the past year as it outflanks the Tories on the Right over issues including tax cuts and immigration.

Asked by Sky’s Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge whether she was worried about Reform’s rise, Ms Nici replied: “I’m not worried about any opposition… I’m probably more Reform than most Reform candidates to be honest.

“I’m constantly called a rebel but that’s because most people in Grimsby think in a similar way to me. So I hold our Government to account on that.

“Reform have got a lot of ideas that people locally do like, but are they are a fully-formed political party, no they’re not.”

Reform Party MP Lee Anderson and leader Richard Tice on their campaign bus on March 15 in Kirkby, Ashfield, Notts – Leon Neal/Getty

She hailed Lee Anderson, the former deputy Tory chairman who defected to Reform earlier this year after losing the whip, as a “fantastic colleague” but said Mr Tice’s party was not able to give him the same “kind of support” as the Conservatives.

“If people vote for Reform this time around what we’ll get is a Labour government so you need to be careful what you wish for.”

While the first-past-the-post system means Reform is not guaranteed to win a single seat, current polling suggests it is likely to cost the Conservatives millions of votes and dozens of seats at the general election this year.

Mr Tice told The Telegraph: “Lia is quite right that our Reform policies are very popular and it sounds like she should give me a ring. Lee has my number.”

A staunch supporter of Boris Johnson, Ms Nici went on to argue the former prime minister “put Grimsby on the political map” and that Mr Johnson had significantly more charm than Mr Sunak.

“The thing is people do want to have charismatic leaders and the difficulty is that for many, many decades we haven’t had somebody as charismatic as Boris,” she said.

“And as good a politician, as good a person as Rishi Sunak is, I don’t believe he does have that charisma that comes across on TV.”

Heavy Tory losses on cards

She went on to insist Mr Sunak was nonetheless “a good Conservative [and] a good man” who should lead the party into the general election amid speculation about his future ahead of the local elections on Thursday, where heavy Tory losses are projected.

“Is he a good man, does he want to serve his country? Yes he does, and I think we need to be settled.

“I don’t think we need any more leadership elections, we need to get on with the job and people don’t want us to be bickering about this.”

Only two Conservative backbenchers have so far called on Mr Sunak to resign but a group of MPs on the Tory Right is considering whether to move against the Prime Minister following Thursday’s local and mayoral elections, and install a new leader.

The Telegraph revealed last month that Danny Kruger, co-chairman of the New Conservatives group of Right-wing backbenchers, admitted at a gathering of local party members that criticisms of the Tories from Reform were “mostly valid”.

A YouGov poll earlier this week showed more than a quarter (27 per cent) who voted for Brexit in 2016 now plan to support Mr Tice’s party, putting it just five points behind the Tories among Leave voters.

This presents a further electoral challenge to Mr Sunak, not least because some 74 per cent of Brexiteers had backed the Conservatives at the 2019 election under Mr Johnson’s leadership.

The Conservative Party was contacted for comment.

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