Credit;PA
Nigel Farage is preparing to reboot the Brexit Party just six months on from the general election.
According to sources quoted in the Sunday Express the party has already opened talks with a public relations firm and is preparing to stand a candidate in the next available by-election.
It is likely to be renamed the Reform Party, and may also set their sights on the reform of the House of Lords.
Senior figures from the Brexit Party have also been in talks with senior Tory MPs on the right of the party who are concerned about the loss of direction by Mr Johnson’s government.
There are also concerns that Mr Johnson may go “soft on Brexit” to get a quick deal with the EU and compromise on immigration rules as well as fishing waters and accepting EU rules.
One Tory MP who has spoken to both Mr Farage and Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice, said: “It will be a disaster if they relaunch. They will immediately pick up eight to 10 per cent of our vote and put us in second place behind Labour.
“A split in the centre right will mean we are always playing catch up.”
The MP added: “We should have given Nigel a knighthood and thanked him but instead Boris and Downing Street just wanted to humiliate him.”
Another Conservative MP added: “The problem is that Boris has left an open goal for the Brexit Party by pandering to the left.
“We have gone over the top with lockdown and we have allowed the streets to be taken over by rioters.
“The one thing we are getting right is Brexit but we are in danger of losing public confidence on that too.”
According to the latest polls public discontent at the Government’s handling of the crisis reached its highest level to date this week.
Nearly half (48 per cent) of the UK population disapprove of the Government’s handling of coronavirus, with only 3-in-10 approving.
Related: Keir Starmer most popular opposition leader since Tony Blair
