Number of Tory members wanting merger with Farage's Reform revealed in bombshell poll

More than half (53 percent) of Conservative members want the party to merge with Nigel Farage's Reform UK party, according to a new poll.

The poll, which surveyed 470 Tory members between 23-27 September for Liz Truss' right-wing Popular Conservatism (PopCon) group, also found that seven in 10 members want a closer relationship with Reform.

It comes as the Conservative Party conference comes to an end. All four candidates for party leader had 20 minutes on stage today to sell their vision to members.

The issue of Mr Farage's surging party has divided the candidates. Kemi Badenoch said she was prepared to work with Reform in Parliament but ruled out an electoral pact. Meanwhile, Conservative leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat has warned against his party becoming Reform UK.

Annunziata Rees-Mogg, PopCon's head of communications, remarked on the shock survey, saying: "Every Conservative activist and canvasser knows people who had been Tories, but voted Reform UK in July.

"It is no surprise our panellists understand that the next leader of the party needs to take action to bring many like-minded voters back to the Tories. Almost three-quarters want a relationship with Reform in order to unite the right."

This comes as Ms Rees-Mogg's brother Sir Jacob, a former Conservative cabinet minister , called for the Tories to strike an electoral pact with the smaller party.

Sir Jacob called for his party to make a "big and generous offer" in a bid to unite the parties against Labour.

Speaking on the fringes of the conference, he suggested the Tories should stand aside in nearly 100 seats where Reform came second to Labour at the last election. Reform UK won five seats and 4 million votes at the last general election.

Sir Jacob said he would encourage the next leader of the Conservatives to "start having the occasional dinner with Nigel" to "build a personal relationship" and "some element of trust", so they could "look to do something at the general election".

Pollster Sir John Curtice, also at the conference, admitted that the Tories "cannot now afford to ignore the smaller parties".

However, Nigel Farage has already dismissed the idea of a merger, saying that Reform is "here to stay".

The MP for Clacton said: "Reform is here to stay. The Tories had their chance and they blew it.

"All talk of whether a future deal between me and the Conservatives can be done is irrelevant. It is not even on my agenda, I simply don't trust them.

"There is a misunderstanding about the new centre-right in the Western world.

"Whether it's Donald Trump's takeover of the Republican Party in America or the Freedom Party's performance in Austria, the old centrist, conservative, stuffy approach to politics no longer inspires."