70 per cent of Tory members think Nigel Farage should be able to join, poll finds
Almost three-quarters of Conservative members say Nigel Farage should be allowed to join the party if he wishes to, according to a ConservativeHome poll.
Pollsters asked 714 Tory voters whether the former UKIP and Brexit Party leader should be welcomed into the fold.
Of those surveyed, 72.3 per cent — or 516 voters — thought Farage should be welcome to join, while 23.5 per cent — or 168 individuals — were against the idea.
While just 4.2 per cent — or 30 people — said they didn’t know.
The results emerged as the UK’s data regulator apologised to ex-Natwest boss Alison Rose for its claim she had breached data protection rules over the Farage-Coutts incident.
Watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) appeared to back-pedal on its findings from last month which suggested Rose had breached laws – prompting a complaint.
“Our investigation did not find that Ms Rose breached data protection law and we regret that our statement gave the impression that she did,” an ICO spokesperson said.
Writing about the survey, ConHome editor Paul Goodman said: “The shift in sentiment about the former UKIP leader is unmistakable.”
He said Brexit, as well as Farage’s popularity as a presenter on GB News, and his LBC phone programme The Nigel Farage Show, had shifted people’s views on him.
And he added: “His appalling treatment by Coutts exemplified the pervasiveness of woke capitalism — and his canny fightback conveyed a sense of a man who gets things done.”
The prominent Eurosceptic had joined the Tories in the 1970s but quit in 1992 in protest over then-Prime Minister John Major’s government signing up to the Maastricht Treaty.
The Conservative Party have been contacted for comment.