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Dear John,

Nigel Farage is telling donors that a Reform UK–Conservative pact - or even a merger - at the next General Election is “inevitable”.

Not the public, but his wealthy donors. Because that’s how our politics works right now. The people with the chequebooks get the roadmap, and everyone else gets the rehearsed denials.

Farage and Kemi Badenoch will insist there’s nothing in it. But behind closed doors, the conversation is very different.
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Reform has momentum. But it doesn’t have the machinery to turn momentum into power: candidates, ground game, data, compliance, local infrastructure - all the unglamorous stuff that actually wins elections. The Conservatives do.

So if you’re a wealthy would-be Reform donor, worried Farage’s party is all heat and no engine, the pitch practically writes itself - don’t worry. We’ll plug Reform into the Conservatives’ ruthlessly effective election-winning machine.

And Farage, reportedly, is already laying down the terms. He’s said to feel “betrayed” by the arrangement he made with Boris Johnson in 2019 over no-deal Brexit - even though, in the long run, it delivered almost everything he wanted. This time, he wants control.

Farage told the Financial Times he’s planning a “reverse takeover”, code for swallowing the Conservatives whole.

Because the real scandal won’t be that politicians said one thing in public and did another in private.

The real scandal is the system that makes this kind of stitch-up not just possible, but rational. Our electoral system rewards it.

First-Past-The-Post turns politics into a zero-sum contest in a handful of seats. It pushes parties into cynical alliances, encourages backroom carve-ups, and lets a minority movement hitch itself to a major party’s infrastructure - and walk into power without ever winning a real national mandate.

A Reform UK–Conservative pact would be Britain’s closest equivalent to MAGA: a long-standing political institution captured by far-right populism, dragging the country towards scapegoats, culture wars, and authoritarian “solutions”.

Whatever you think of the Conservatives now, this would create a new beast entirely.

We’re expected to watch the theatre and pretend we don’t know what’s happening. But we can’t let that happen.

That’s why we’re fighting to fix our broken democracy and make it work for everyone. A system that rewards polarisation, backroom deals, and the wealthy donors bankrolling it is not a system that will ever deliver the solutions we desperately need, including an end to the cost of living crisis.

If you can, please chip in today to support our work ([link removed]) . We’re up against a super-wealthy elite trying to buy the system, but if we don’t fight back, who will?
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Thank you so much for your support! This is a team effort and we rely on everyone pitching in if we’re to get the change necessary.

Best,

Conor

Conor McKenzie

Digital Engagement Manager
Open Britain
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