{"id":230810,"date":"2025-10-28T21:17:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T21:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/230810\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T21:17:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T21:17:07","slug":"john-major-tells-tories-alliance-with-reform-would-be-beyond-stupid-conservatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/230810\/","title":{"rendered":"John Major tells Tories alliance with Reform would be \u2018beyond stupid\u2019 | Conservatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Major has told the Conservatives<\/a> that forming an alliance with Reform UK would \u201cfor ever destroy\u201d the party, which he said had already left traditional supporters \u201cpolitically homeless\u201d by lurching too far to the right.<\/p>\n

The former prime minister dismissed a pact with Nigel Farage\u2019s party as \u201cbeyond stupid\u201d, saying that any Tories tempted to defect to Reform should go now because his own party would be better off without them.<\/p>\n

As the Tories struggle with the existential threat posed by Reform\u2019s surge in popularity, Major warned far more than the future of the party was at stake with autocracies on the march across the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrustration with democracy should not blind us to the toxic nature of nationalism, or any and every form of populist or authoritarian government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Addressing a Conservative party lunch on Tuesday, he urged the party not to reject the centre ground of British politics, saying they were \u201cseriously alienating\u201d voters by coming down on the wrong side of public opinion on Europe, climate change and overseas aid.<\/p>\n

The Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, supported Brexit, and has committed to scrapping the UK\u2019s net zero by 2050 target<\/a> and cutting the overseas aid budget by another \u00a37bn, while moderates fear the direction the party is taking under the influence of rightwingers such as Robert Jenrick sounds the death knell for one-nation Conservatism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a wide-ranging criticism of the current direction, Major accused the Tories of a loss of pragmatism, tolerance and nuance, and of ignoring the 43% of the nation\u2019s voters in the political centre. The party must \u201cchange or cease to be relevant\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo embrace such a narrow philosophy shrinks the party from being a broad-based national movement to resembling a petty and mean-minded cult.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe party needs its right wing, its centre, and centre-left Conservatives back together in the fold. If that can be done, then we may once again widen our appeal and be a power in the land. The alternative is bleak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Major also urged scepticism over the archetypal \u201cstrongman leader\u201d who promised voters a shiny new world. \u201cFor such figures lead no one to utopia. Instead, to gain and keep power they sweep away the compromises and decencies of democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Reform was trying to be \u201call things to all people\u201d and as a result was making promises that could never be kept, such as nationalising the water industry. \u201cThis is amateur populism let loose. Such foolish promises illustrate their unsuitability for power,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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He acknowledged, however, that \u201cwe, as a party, are ourselves in part to blame\u201d after a tumultuous few years in power for \u201canxious people \u2026 turning to populist politicians\u201d.<\/p>\n

His speech comes a day after another former prime minister cautioned the Conservatives against turning to populism for \u201cshort-term political ends\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a speech to peers on Monday, Theresa May took issue with her party\u2019s approach to net zero, the judiciary and human rights as she urged the Tories to show leadership instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Major has told the Conservatives that forming an alliance with Reform UK would \u201cfor ever destroy\u201d the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-230810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}