Nigel Farage Could Turn Rishi Sunak's Reform Problem Into An Absolute Nightmare

The possibility of Reform taking crucial votes from the Conservative party at the 2024 general election is already a headache for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, but if Nigel Farage returned to front the party, it would turn into a splitting political migraine. 

Earlier this month, Reform UK leader Richard Tice told PoliticsHome Tory MPs should be "shitting themselves" about the threat his right-wing party poses to their chances of keeping their seats when the country goes to the polls next year.

"The last one was 'get Brexit done', the next will be an immigration election," Tice said.

"Every per cent [which Reform gains in the opinion polls] is devastating for the Tories. You could be looking at a complete collapse in their number of seats," he warned, ominously.

Sunak already has his work cut out trying to avoid what evidence suggests is likely to be a seismic defeat to Keir Starmer's Labour Party at the next general election, which must be called before the end of 2024.

Labour has consistently maintained large, double-digit leads in the polls, which if replicated at the election would see dozens of seats turn from blue to red. The Conservatives are also at risk of losing seats in the traditionally Tory south of England to Ed Davey's Liberal Democrats. Tory strategists already facing a bleak electoral picture are now also worried about a surge in support for Reform meaning they lose further votes to the right. 

Reform, led by pro-Brexit businessman and former member of the European parliament Tice, was created in 2018. Effectively replacing the Farage-led Brexit Party, it was initially a fairly insignificant force in British politics without an obvious raison d'etre following the UK's departure from the European Union. But in