Reform UK and the Conservatives are in a "street fight to the death" following Robert Jenrick's defection, a former top Tory has warned.
Lord David Frost, who was one of the top Brexit negotiators, said the two parties are "trying to kill off the other" after Mr Jenrick became the latest Tory MP to defect to Nigel Farage's party yesterday.
Writing in The Telegraph, he said: "What matters is that the subterranean warfare between Reform and the Tories has now burst out fully into the open.
"Both parties are engaged in a street fight to the death. Each party is trying to kill off the other and has no alternative to doing so.
"Politicians who try to build bridges are likely to find it is career-ending.
"As a result speculation, or more accurately, wishful thinking about a pact or arrangement between the two parties is surely dead."
Mr Jenrick yesterday launched a scathing attack on his former party after revealing his defection, saying it lacked the "stomach for the radical change this country needs" and ruling out a possible pact between the two parties.
Speaking at a press conference alongside Mr Farage, the Newark MP said: "I don't believe there is likely to be, or should be a pact or a deal with the Conservative Party.
"The message I've just delivered to you today is that I think the Conservative Party has failed to understand the mistakes that it made, has not repented for that.
"Why would anyone in this country hand the keys back to these people to take it forward and hope that they would fix the country?"
Former Conservative cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg however, said parties need "broad" appeal to win a General Election, arguing neither Reform nor the Tories have it on their own.
The ex-leader of the House of Commons told Sky News: "The reality of first-past-the-post politics is that you have to have your wing of politics united if you are to win, so you have to have a party that is broad enough to attract enough of the electorate be getting 40 to 45 per cent of the vote.
"Neither Reform nor the Conservative Party can manage that on their own in spite of the fact that there is a huge overlap in terms of our policy ideas, our concerns about immigration, concerns about economic policy and so on."
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Work and Pensions Secretary says potential Labour defectors will be joining 'right-wing project' if they go to Reform
Pat McFadden insisted he was 'not worred' after Nigel Farage suggested there was about to be a Labour defection to his party
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Pat McFadden insisted he was “not worried” after Nigel Farage suggested there was about to be a Labour defection to Reform UK.
The Work and Pensions Secretary told Times Radio: “I’m not worried, and I don’t know if that will happen but if it does, it’s still a right-wing project.
“This is a project that parrots President Putin’s line on foreign affairs, we’ve seen that most recently over Ukraine.
“It’s a project that doesn’t believe in the NHS. Nigel Farage himself has said that the model of the NHS is wrong.
“So whether it’s on foreign affairs or domestic affairs, this is a right-wing project and we will stand firmly against it.”
WATCH: Lee Anderson insists Reform UK is not 'Tory 2.0' but is 'rehoming service for true British patriots'
New shadow justice secretary says public 'sick of the backbiting and backstabbing in politics' as he brands Robert Jenrick defection 'disappointing'
Nick Timothy said his shadow cabinet predecessor Robert Jenrick was “a friend of mine” but that the public were sick of “the backbiting and the backstabbing” in politics.
Asked whether he was friends with the former Tory, who defected to Reform UK on Thursday, the new shadow justice secretary told BBC Breakfast: “Yeah, Rob’s been a friend of mine for some time.
“It’s obviously disappointing that he’s decided to move on, but the thing is, what we learned yesterday is the clear contrast between the Conservatives led by Kemi Badenoch and the other parties and what they offer Britain today.
“The public are sick of the backbiting and the backstabbing and the lack of seriousness in our political parties when the challenges that the country faces are so serious, Kemi was given irrefutable evidence of what was about to happen, and she acted very decisively.”
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