BADENOCH RULES OUT COALITION DEAL WITH REFORM UK

Kemi Badenoch has said she would rather face another general election than agree a deal with Reform UK if no party wins a majority. The Conservative Party leader made the comments at her party's conference in Birmingham. In an interview with the BBC's political editor, Chris Mason, she said Reform UK were "neck deep in scandal" and that working with them would be "one problem after another." Speaking separately to GB News, she said she wanted Reform voters to return to the Conservatives, but ruled out allowing defected MPs back into the party. Asked whether she would want Reform MPs to return, she said: "No."

Badenoch said Reform's own conference had been "overshadowed by an exposé and scandals." She said Reform's leader in Wales had to step down after being arrested, and that his predecessor was jailed for taking bribes from Russia. "I don't want to do a deal with those types of people," she said. She added that she would rather fight two general elections in quick succession than form a coalition with Nigel Farage's party in a hung parliament.

Badenoch said Conservative members at the conference felt "happy because we know who we are," while the party remained third in opinion polls behind Labour and Reform UK. Asked whether that reflected denial about the party's position, she said: "We are feeling chipper because we are going back to first principles." On the first day of the conference, she published a document called "The Right Way," setting out her political philosophy. She acknowledged the Conservatives were "not out of the woods yet" after their 2024 general election defeat.