Jacob Rees-Mogg says Farage ‘broadly a Tory and always has been’
Nigel Farage is backed by the majority of Tory members to return to the party, new polling suggests.
The survey by the Conservative Home website found 72 percent said he should be admitted to the party if he seeks membership.
In the poll of 714 Tory members, some 24 percent said no, while four percent were unsure.
Mr Farage left the Conservatives in 1992 over the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, which laid the foundations for the European Union.
He has since founded Ukip and the Brexit Party.
There has been speculation over Mr Farage rejoining the Conservatives after he attended the party’s conference in Manchester last month in his capacity as a GB News presenter.
But Mr Farage has dismissed suggestions he would become a Tory member again.
Speaking in October, he said: “Would I want to join a party that’s put the tax rate up to the highest in over 70 years, that has allowed net migration to run at over half a million a year, that has not used Brexit to deregulate to help small businesses? No, no and no.
“I achieved a lot more outside of the Tory party than I ever could have done from within it.”
Mr Farage has the backing of senior Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Mr Rees-Mogg told the BBC last month: “I’m a friend of Nigel’s. He’s a very effective campaigner and I think most of his political views are ones I share.
“I think Nigel is broadly a Tory and always has been. If he wanted to join, I can’t think his membership would be refused.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not rule out a return to the Tories for the former MEP when asked in October.
He said: “The Tory party is a broad church. I welcome lots of people who want to subscribe to our ideals, to our values.”
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