senior Reform UK figure has revealed that senior Conservatives are praying for the death of Nigel Farage in order to rescue their party from the abyss. Gawain Towler, who served as Mr Farage’s top spin doctor for two decades, made the astonishing claim in an interview with the Division Bell podcast.
Mr Towler said he had personally heard senior Tories saying their party’s best strategy with Mr Farage is: “He smokes and he drinks, so he’s probably going to die before [the election].” He hit back: “If that’s the best they’ve got – ‘ooh, our best chance of winning this election is if Farage has a hernia or something’ – but if that’s your strategy, waiting for him to pop his clogs, then it seems a bit threadbare.” Mr Towler departed Reform UK last year after 20 years of working side-by-side Nigel Farage in both Brussels and London, through all his various political parties.
Mr Towler served as Nigel Farage’s spin doctor for 20 years (Image: Daily Express)
The claim comes as Nigel Farage’s party tops almost every opinion poll in Britain, often scoring ten points or more higher than Kemi Badenoch’s Tories.
Asked about the potential for more defections to Reform, Mr Towler said the issue no longer whether Tory MPs, Lords and councillors want to swap teams, but whether Reform UK would be willing to accept them.
He revealed Reform would only accept a tiny number of Tory MPs defecting, given the quality and track record of the broader parliamentary party.
Mr Towler explained: “I would be surprised if there’s more than five that we’d be happy with. Look at them, look at their track record, look at what they did in office. Why would we want to be associated with that.
“I personally think we’d take about 2-3% of their peers, about 5-10% of their MPs, about 20-30% of their councillors, and about 80% of their membership – and I think we’ve got that already.”
He even revealed he has referred another Conservative councillor wishing to switch parties to Reform UK’s defections unit while waiting in the Daily Express’ office foyer.
Gawain Towler revealed civil servants are already in talks with Reform (Image: Getty)
Mr Towler also clarified recent reports that Liz Truss has been in talks with Reform UK, revealing that the former Prime Minister is advising the party on “what not to do” if they win the next election.
He insisted the party is talking to lots of senior politicians, and also senior serving civil servants, to ensure they can hit the ground running should Mr Farage enter No. 10 Downing Street.
He said: “We’re talking to quite a few people. There are former cabinet ministers and others that we’re talking to who have run government departments.
“Having senior civil servants come to us to talk about it. There’s quite a lot of goodwill out there.
“They’re saying, ‘right, you could be in government, we don’t want you to make a hash of it because it’s our country. We may not be a party member, we might not support you broadly, but if you get into government we don’t want you to make a mess of it because it’s our country and we love it’.”
He quipped that all Reform candidates will be made to watch the series ‘Yes Minister’ before the election in order to understand how to deal with the ‘blob’ of civil servants who may want to frustrate their agenda.
Asked if the 2029 general election is Nigel Farage’s last chance, Mr Towler hit back: “It could be the country’s. I truly believe that the people who are on our side of the argument look at the current government and the last government, and say ‘if we don’t do something now, what’s left?’”
