Farage insists his party is ‘not a splinter’ of the Tories amid growing Conservative calls for deal before next year’s election

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Nigel Farage has said Ukip will not enter into any form of election pact with the Conservatives amid growing calls by Tory MPs for a deal.

Farage’s comments came as he and Douglas Carswell, who defected from the Conservatives to Ukip and became the party’s first elected MP on Friday following the Clacton byelection, hit the campaign trail in Rochester and Strood in the fight to rally support for Tory defector Mark Reckless.

Addressing supporters in the Kent constituency, Farage said the party was “targeting everybody in this campaign”.

David Cameron is coming under increasing pressure from backbenchers to consider some form of electoral pact with Ukip at the general election next May.

The Eurosceptic MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said the Heywood and Middleton result, where Ukip only narrowly lost to Labour, should prompt a re-evalution of the Tories’ relationship with Farage’s party.

He told the Times: “We should think about what that [result] means in terms of the Ukip-Conservative relationship, because the Conservative family could win a majority on that basis. Otherwise, the only thing we manage is mutually assured destruction.”

The Tory MP for Wellingborough, Peter Bone, also told the paper: “If we can get that vote as one we would have a massive centre-right majority in parliament, but if we split the vote we could have Labour winning on 31 or 32% of the vote.

“In seats where it is difficult for us to win, maybe let Ukip run in that seat – being endorsed by the Conservatives. If that was repeated in Heywood and Middleton at the general election, it would have a Conservative and Ukip MP.”

But Farage said the party was “not a splinter” of the Tories.

He told Sky News: “If I was to call a silence and ask our activists here now whether they wanted a pre-election pact with the Conservatives I think I would need to be bundled into that room for my own safety.”

He added: “This party is not a splinter of the Conservative party. This party is its own organic force.

“We want to win our own representation in Westminster and we believe only by doing that can we fundamentally change British politics.

“To sell out so that one or two people can have ministerial positions is not what Ukip’s about.

“I don’t trust David Cameron. I don’t believe a word David Cameron says and for that reason it would be fruitless to even enter into any negotiation.”

The Conservatives have repeatedly told voters that backing Ukip splits the vote and would lead to a Labour victory.

But Farage again insisted that the election of Carswell in Clacton shows that support for the party is not a wasted vote.

He said: “What we saw in Clacton was very clear. The people voted Ukip and they got Ukip.”

Ukip supporters from across the south-east have gathered in the Rochester and Strood constituency as the campaign to elect Reckless as a Ukip MP began.

The date for the by-election is yet to be set but the Conservatives are said to be considering opting for a long campaign so they can plough resources into the seat in the hope of retaining it.

Carswell said the main Westminster parties had run a “highly personal, aggressive smear campaign” against Reckless since he announced his defection.

“The aggressive smear attacks on Mark tell us more about the values of those who run the big corporate parties in Westminster than they do about this decent, honourable, patriotic, diligent candidate in this contest,” he said.

Asked about calls for an election pact, he said: “The internal wrangling of the Conservative party is no longer my problem … There is something a little bit iffy about the idea of pacts, because it suggests politicians fixing things for their convenience. Why don’t we be frank and honest, let the voters decide, let the voters make up their mind and abide by their verdict.”

Meanwhile, another Tory MP has refused to rule out following his former colleagues by jumping ship.

“You should never say never in politics but the bottom line is my very strong preference is to stay within the Conservative party,” John Baron, the member for Basildon and Billericay, told BBC2’s Newsnight.

Carswell praised Baron but said any decision to defect was “intensely personal”.

He said: “I can’t speak for John. I know John and he is a good man, a decent man who shares my values, but these are intensely personal decisions.

“It is ultimately his personal choice, his personal decision and a decision for the good people of Billericay.”

Jonathan Ashworth, shadow Cabinet Office minister, said: “David Cameron has always pandered to his right, and even they are now deserting him. This just proves that Ukip are a party of Tory people, Tory policies and Tory money.”