but each MP knows he or she stands a slightly better chance of retaining their seat if Reform (*Nigel* Farage's company, which stands candidates like a political party) doesn't run in their constituency, drawing off a bit of the right wing vote. Even if Reform didn't stand anywhere, the Tories will not form a government, so a promise of an ambassadorship means nothing. The bribe of a seat in the Lords could still be done by the Tories in opposition, but it would look really, really weaselly. So, on-brand for the Tories, I suppose ...
Farage has laughed in the MP's face, anyway:
How to neuter Nige: “Rishi should do a deal with him to make him ambassador to the U.S. in return for him agreeing not to stand for Reform,” one MP in a Red Wall seat told Playbook PM. “He already has a great relationship with Donald Trump and he would make an excellent interlocutor between the two countries. Bung him a peerage and make him ambassador is what I would do.”
Or give him a job for life: Another said it would be “easier to do a deal saying we will make you a Conservative peer” in exchange for calling off the Reform dogs.
But but but: “I am not for sale,” Farage told Playbook PM. “If the Conservative party were sincere they would have sent me to the USA in 2017.”
https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/london-playbook-pm-angelas-ashes-on-labour-campaign-launch/Britain’s most respected polling expert John Curtice tells your author there is now a “99 percent chance of Labour forming the next administration.”
Holy moly: “Are you surprised?” a straight-faced Curtice asked Playbook, following a speech at his University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. “It’s clearly a very small chance that the Tories are going to be in government after the autumn.”
The party of the 1 percent (chance): Though Labour has been consistently riding 20 points clear of its rivals, Tory strategists still insist the polls will narrow dramatically in the heat of the election campaign. But Curtice says the chances of a Tory turnaround are fractional, adding that Keir Starmer’s party also stands a far better chance of forming a government in the event no one wins a majority. “The Labour Party will be in a much stronger position to negotiate a minority government than the Conservatives because, apart from possibly the DUP, the Conservatives have no friends in the House of Commons,” he said. Happy Easter!
https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/a-cross-to-bear-this-easter/
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