NIGEL Farage has held secret meetings with disgruntled Red Wall Tories as he plots a political comeback, we can reveal.
The Brexit maestro has been “testing the water” with northern MPs who are unhappy with Rishi Sunak’s leadership.
The bombshell revelation comes as his party — Reform UK — looks at a hit list of seats they want to snatch at the next election.
This includes those of Labour big beasts Ed Miliband and John Healey plus Tory Red Wallers Jonathan Gullis and Jill Mortimer.
It comes amid growing public anger at the failure to get a grip of our borders after net migration hit an all-time high.
One Westminster insider familiar with the talks said: “Nigel Farage has been reaching out to the disgruntled lot.
“He has been having meetings with Red Wall Tories about the Reform Party to test the water.”
The revelation comes days after Mr Farage issued a rallying cry to Brexit backers to ditch the Tories and back Reform UK at the next election.
It was his first big political intervention in nearly three years.
Nigel told The Sun on Sunday he has been having talks with a number of Tory MPs — and while outright defection has not been discussed yet, “there are a lot of very very disillusioned Conservatives”.
Reform UK – the successor to Ukip – has seen a surge of support in the past month, with over 5,000 people joining.
Many of the new members are ex-Tories, The Sun on Sunday understands.
Anxious Red Wall Tories are worried that a resurgent Farage party will hoover up support among Brits furious at the Channel boats crisis.
They think it is unlikely Reform UK will win seats outright — but they fear they will squeeze their vote and let Labour slip in.
One ex-minister said: “If Reform UK get even ten per cent of the vote that could be catastrophic for me.”
Stoking Tory divisions, Mr Farage said many Red Wallers are very worried about rocketing immigration numbers and that there could be backsliding on Brexit.
His secret talks will fuel concerns that more Tory MPs could start rebelling against the PM because they are unhappy at his leadership — or even join the growing exodus of Conservatives quitting Parliament.
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