A UK Government minister has called for Nigel Farage to be given a seat in the House of Lords.
Esther McVey, a Cabinet Office minister labelled the “minister for common sense”, said that the Reform UK founder should be given a peerage as he is “one of the country’s greatest campaigners”.
McVey’s comment came as she appeared on GB News, a channel on which she co-hosted a show with her husband and fellow Tory MP Philip Davies before entering government.
The Tory minister said: “I'm a fan of Nigel Farage. And I said many years ago, I would have liked him to have got a place in the Lords.
“I would have given him a peerage because I think he is one of the country's greatest campaigners and politicians.”
READ MORE: Tory chair defends GB News host's role as 'minister for common sense'
She went on: “Look what he did to bring the message of Brexit and see how that transformed [the UK].
“He's now a great campaigner. Look at his own exposing the banking system and what happened to him there. So I hope he's a positive force and I'd like him to be, yes, be positive.
“If you're going to say make or break the Conservative Party, of course I'd want him to make the Conservative Party. For me, it’s the best party.”
Asked if she could imagine him being leader of the Tories, she said: “No.
“No, I genuinely can't and I don't even know if he really wants to get back into politics, if I'm being honest.”
Farage is the founder of Reform UK and is listed as having control over it with Companies House. However, Richard Tice is nominally the leader.
Speculation has suggested that Farage could look to take control over his party back ahead of the General Election, with the rise of Reform in the polls worrying the Tories.
In January, polling found that Farage was the 2019 Conservative voters’ most popular pick to take over as that party’s leader.
More than a quarter (28%) of 2019 Tory voters said they were considering voting Reform at the next General Election.
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