Tories must not get into bed with Farage says leadership contender Stride

The Tories must not ‘crawl into bed’ with Farage, has Mel Stride noted. 
 
The Tory leadership contender stated the following regarding Mr Farage, the leader of Reform UK, I want to make it crystal clear to him that he cannot join the Conservative Party because he wants to wreck the party. 

As you would recall, Mr Farage has in the past declared that he is fully willing to seriously consider a merger with the Tories. 

What we do not have to do is sleep with Nigel Farage or allow Nigel Farage to become a member of the Conservative Party,” Mr Stride said to The Daily T podcast. 
 
He has stated personally that he wishes to wipe out the Conservative party – so there is no doubt on that score But what one has to do is listen to and engage with and try and sympathetically address the very real and reasonable concerns of those people that voted Reform. ” 
 
Some of the other leadership rivals of Mr Stride have also claimed in the past that they would not allow Mr Farage to join the Tories. It consists of Robert Jenrick and James Cleverly and the shadow home secretary, Kemi Badenoch, who is also the shadow business secretary, and Dame Priti Patel. 
 
Tom Tugendhat, the shadow security minister, declined to give an explicit answer last month when asked on GB News whether he would welcome Mr Farage to the Tories, saying: “Well, in my opinion, Nigel has pretty much laid down his stand,” 
 
Shadow work and pensions secretary Mr Stride pointed out that the Tories should aim at gaining the votes of the Reform voters. 
 
It has never been a situation of, one fine morning, the electoral votes are going to move en masse and shift towards our side,” he said. Instead it is done in the form of serious offer around migration, especially the illegal migration, low taxation and such other matters which are most influential to those voters. 
 
Now some people say, ‘oh, they’re Right-wing issues’. I say, ‘No, they’re not: The so-called common cause issues are not They are actually important to them’, for instance, if you ask Liberal Democrats about migration, they actually do care a great deal about it, So, I think it is recognizing the voters who chose Reform and having the right program in order to attract them. 
 
Mr Stride has claimed candidacy on the unity’s leadership race and mentioned he will ‘forensically’ scrutinise Sir Keir Starmer, the PM, on the economy in case he clinches. 
 
He has been a member of the Commons since 2010 representing Central Devon, though he won the seat at the election by only 61 votes.