Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson should work together to crush Sir Keir Starmer's Labour at the next General Election, a new defector to Reform UK has claimed.
Ex-Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who served as Mr Johnson's Culture Secretary, made the rallying cry just hours after being unveiled as Reform's 12th bolt from the blue at the NEC on Friday.
Speaking to The Daily Mail, Ms Dorries said: "If there's a will to make the lives of people better, then I think both men could and would find some way to accommodate each other's egos and to coexist for the sake of the country."
The former Mid Bedfordshire MP went into Reform's conference at the NEC warning that the Tory Party is "dead".
The 68-year-old was introduced to 6,000 members to deliver an eight-minute speech by Nigel Farage on Friday.
Ms Dorries warned that the Tory Party is now "dead", adding: "Members now need to think the unthinkable and look to the future."
Speaking to GB News just minutes after, Ms Dorries also claimed the Conservative Party lost its way when Mr Johnson was ousted in September 2022.
She said: "The single point where it went wrong was when Boris Johnson was removed as Prime Minister.
"And I think if a party removes an election-winning Prime Minister once, Margaret Thatcher, it can be seen as a big mistake.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and former high-profile Conservative Nadine Dorries, who defected to Reform UK on the eve of its party conference, during the party's annual conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham
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"When they do it twice and then elect duds in their place, and then elect Kemi Badenoch, who hasn't announced a policy of any substance in the 12 months that she's been leader, you kind of realise that if a party can't function itself, it can't run the country."
However, Reform UK's head of policy, Zia Yusuf, has already dismissed Ms Dorries's call for Mr Farage to work with Mr Johnson.
Despite being on the same side of the Brexit debate, there is no love lost between Mr Farage and Mr Johnson.
Ahead of Reform UK's conference, GB News also spoke to a number of insiders about how Ms Dorries's defection had ended Mr Johnson's faint hopes of mounting a political comeback.
Nadine Dorries was a loyal supporter of Boris Johnson throughout his time in Parliament | PA"The days of Boris Johnson are over, the days of Nigel Farage are here to stay," one Tory defector told GB News.
An ex-ally of Mr Johnson also admitted: "It is impossible for Boris to come back, not only because of his record in power, but because he has no friends in the rump that’s left of the parliamentary Conservative Party, which is so entitled, drippy and wet that it’s no longer a party of the right."
"The Boris comeback is dead," a third source bluntly added.
GB News revealed that allies had been urging Mr Johnson to consider a return to frontline politics in February.
Nigel Farage spoke to GB News about what is next for his party | PAThe People's Channel later disclosed that Reform UK insiders were confident any path to Mr Johnson had been all but blocked by the rapid growth of Mr Farage's campaign machine and double-digit leads in the opinion polls.
However, the spectre of Mr Johnson's potential return continues to raise eyebrows, particularly with Kemi Badenoch's support falling to as low as 15 per cent.
Speaking to GB News last week, Mr Johnson pointed out that Reform UK was polling near zero per cent when he was Prime Minister.
Mr Johnson also defiantly reiterated that he believes the Tories would have won the 2024 General Election if he had not been ousted from No10 in a Cabinet cabal in the summer of 2022.
Boris Johnson's involvement with Reform UK has been dismissed by Zia Yusuf
| PADespite several former allies switching to Reform UK, the ex-Prime Minister's loyalist supporters urge against writing off Mr Johnson.
“I wouldn’t rule out anything with Boris," an ex-Cabinet Minister told GB News.
A top Tory added: "I don’t think it means it’s over for Boris. Nadine has just personally run out of road with the Conservative Party."
However, following the Tory Party's catastrophic result in the 2024 General Election, Mr Johnson's faint path back to power became even narrower.
A large number of Mr Johnson's long-standing allies vacated the House of Commons ahead of polls opening, including ex-Asia Minister Nigel Adams.
Nadine Dorries, who defected to Reform UK on the eve of its party conference, speaks during the party's annual conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham
|PA
And three Tory defectors to Reform - Dame Andrea Jenkyns, Sir Jake Berry and Ross Thomson - all played pivotal roles in Mr Johnson's 2019 leadership bid
Despite accepting a number of Mr Johnson's allies, some Reform UK members were hesitant about letting the ex-Prime Minister into Mr Farage's inner circle.
Beaconsfield branch chair Sarah Coetzee told GB News: "I don't think I'd want Boris Johnson to join. As much as he's as charismatic as he is, he flip-flops."
However, Ms Coetzee was not opposed to more ex-Tory MPs joining Reform UK.
She said: "There should be a limit. We need experience, like Nigel Farage said, but this is also a grassroots movement.
"There are a lot of people, like myself, who have been there for not too long, but we need them and we need experienced people like Nadine Dorries."
GB News has approached Mr Johnson for comment.