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Property tycoon Nick Candy has left the Conservative Party to become treasurer of Nigel Farage's Reform Party, the latest high-profile defection from the right-wing populist party as it surges in the opinion polls.
Candy, who has donated more than £300,000 to the Conservative Party, said he would donate a “seven-figure number” to the Conservative Party. repairHe also promised to raise “tens of millions” for the rebel party.
“I wouldn't have done it if I didn't believe 100% that (Farage) would be the next prime minister,” he said on Tuesday.
The move follows recent defections including Tim Montgomery, founder of the widely followed Conservative Party news website, and Andrea Jenkins, a former Tory MP. Jenkins will also stand as the Reform candidate for Mayor of Lincolnshire.
A Find Out Now poll last week showed that 24 per cent of the public back Farage's party, ahead of the 23 per cent who support the ruling Labor Party and the 26 per cent who support the Conservatives.
Other recent polls by JL Partners and More in Common show that Labor still has a significant lead on reform in the UK.
Kandi, 51, is married to actress and singer Holly Vallance, a prominent supporter of the reform movement in the UK. He promised to raise “the most ever achieved in the UK”, saying: “We have already raised millions this morning.”
Reports last week suggested that Elon Musk was preparing to make a major donation to the UK Reform Foundation that could reach $100 million, something the billionaire Trump adviser has since denied.
Musk commented on Kandi's defection on Tuesday, calling it “interesting.” He previously backed comments on social media site X, which predicted that Farage would be the next Prime Minister of the UK.
“We don't know anything about Elon Musk other than that he supports our position,” Farage said on Tuesday, but added: “If people offer us money legally, we will accept it.”
The Populist Party now has more than 100,000 members, compared to the Workers' Party, which has about 370,000 members.
The Reform Party in the UK won five seats in the elections in July, taking them all from the Conservative Party. It came in second place with 98 seats, of which the Labor Party won 89.
Farage said last month that he believed more future votes “would come from Labor from this position, than from the Conservatives”, adding that there was a “realignment of how voters saw the old spectrum of left and right”.
Farage said he was determined to model his party on the Liberal Democrats under former leader Paddy Ashdown, by aggressively seeking county and district council seats in order to build local momentum in targeted areas of the UK.
