Reform UK aiming for reverse takeover of Tories, Farage says
Nigel Farage has said Reform UK is aiming for a “reverse takeover” of the Conservatives, after some donors claimed he would be open to a formal pact if Kemi Badenoch was not the Tory leader,Farage denied a report that he had told donors an electoral deal was “inevitable” but he acknowledged he would like to in effect absorb the party by winning over defectors and replacing it,“No deals, just a reverse takeover,” Farage said,“A deal with them as they are would cost us votes,”His comments allowed Labour to claim Reform and the Tories were ideologically the same, with Keir Starmer hitting out at their “unholy alliance”.
Senior Labour sources said the idea of a merger between Reform and the Tories would be highly useful at the local elections and they would seek to portray the two parties as being in each other’s pockets.Reform has accepted more than 21 current and former Tory MPs, while no MPs from other parties have defected, highlighting the overlap between the two.But Richard Tice, the party’s deputy leader, said donors were “confused” if they thought Farage wanted a pact as instead he wanted to replace the Tories.One Reform donor told the Guardian they would trust Farage’s judgment on whether to go for a merger with the Tories, suggesting they would not be opposed to it.However, the idea of a pact does not appear to be credible while Badenoch is in post, with senior Reform figures much keener on Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, as a potential partner.
Badenoch has ruled out the idea of joining forces with Farage,Another donor confirmed to the Guardian that Farage had discussed what a deal with the Conservatives could look like and the Reform leader did not think this was feasible with Badenoch,“I believe it will happen and it should happen,” the donor said, adding that even Conservatives who were potentially sympathetic to the idea of a deal believed it was too early to act now given the fluidity of Reform’s position and structures,The donor said the only chance the Conservatives had of winning alone would be to move decisively to the centre, most likely under a different leader, and that Badenoch would lose if she tried to take on Farage from the right,Several other Reform donors said they backed Farage’s strategy of aiming to become the dominant party at the next election, with any decisions on pacts not possible until after a contest has been fought.
With Reform leading in the polls, some senior Tory rightwingers believe the party will need to do a deal with Reform to survive, but it is as yet unclear what any pact would look like.Options range from a pre-election non-aggression pact under which the two parties would avoid standing against each other in certain constituencies, to a post-election confidence and supply arrangement, and even to a full-blown coalition in order to govern.Tory sources suggested that any discussions about a pact would have to remain private – or take place after the election.One shadow cabinet minister said: “Reform wouldn’t want to talk about it before the election because so many people still don’t like Tories.”Jenrick is understood to be among those who believe a deal is inevitable.
In April a leaked recording captured him vowing to “unite the right” before the next election.One ally said: “Rob and Nigel agree on most things but on some Rob issues is to the right of him.Nigel is proceeding cautiously because he wants to be seen as more moderate.”On Wednesday, Jenrick rejected the idea of defecting to Reform, saying: “It wasn’t very long ago that I was running to be leader of the Conservative party, so I’m not going anywhere.”Tory strategists say about a quarter of their voter base would be willing to back Labour to keep Farage out of No 10, while three-quarters would vote for Reform, a quarter enthusiastically.
Cummins conundrum is key as Australia try not to overthink tactics
Will the captain return? Will Nathan Lyon play? Who will open? Ashes hostilities are renewed and the hosts don’t need to ask too many questionsAt last, at long last, an Ashes series is about to start. It feels that way, anyway, after so many months of lead-up, such an eternal blur of preview and prediction and preamble, were supposed to reach their end – only to find that the end was instead a momentary interruption, a hiccup, an indigestion-dream of a Test from Perth, a contest done in the span of 31 hours, leaving everyone to return to punditry and prognostication for a further 11 blasted and benighted days.We are, for pity’s sake, in a discussion cycle about Ben Stokes correctly applying a bike helmet while not on a bike, or Steve Smith correctly applying eye-black stickers in his Tim Tebow tribute act, or the archaeologically uncovered fact that Australian teams have a good record at the Gabba. Like farmers waiting for the rains, we are praying for play to start to let us talk about something that has happened, rather than something that might. Even the day-night format means another wait, four more hours than would usually be the case before the balm of the first ball
Nicola Pietrangeli obituary
The Italian tennis player Nicola Pietrangeli, who has died aged 92, played more Davis Cup matches than anyone in the history of a competition that stretches back to 1900. In the days when the leading tennis nations played more Davis Cup ties each year than they do under the current system, Pietrangeli played 66 ties in 18 years, emerging with a proud record of having won 120 rubbers and lost only 44. Seventy-eight of those victories came in singles and he was assisted in his 42 doubles wins by his regular partner, Orlando Sirola.Even in the current era of exceptional Italian success in tennis, led by the reigning Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner, Pietrangeli will be remembered as one of his country’s most elegant and admired sportsmen.His game was based on court craft and one of the most beautiful and effective backhands the game has ever seen
Oval Invincibles will be renamed as MI London for the Hundred in 2026
Oval Invincibles, the Hundred’s most successful franchise, will be competing as MI London next year, the name favoured by their new Indian co-owners.The change of name brings the men’s and women’s teams, who between them have won Hundred titles in each of the past five years, in line with the rest of the Ambani family’s Mumbai Indians holdings which, in addition to its Indian Premier League team, includes MI Cape Town in the SA20, MI Emirates in the ILT20 and MI New York in Major League Cricket.The Ambanis, through their Reliance company, bought 49% of Oval Invincibles in an auction which valued the franchise at £123m. Surrey will retain a 51% share in the franchise and marks the completion of the final deal from the England and Wales Cricket Board’s sale of equity stakes in the Hundred this year.Surrey said on Wednesday in a statement: “Surrey county cricket club and Reliance today announced their partnership in the Oval Invincibles franchise in the Hundred
Terence Crawford dethroned over $300k fee, handing Britain’s Sheeraz title shot
Terence Crawford has been stripped of his World Boxing Council super-middleweight world title after a dispute over unpaid sanctioning fees, a decision that puts Britain’s Hamzah Sheeraz in line to fight for the vacant belt.The WBC announced on Wednesday that it had removed the American star as its champion, three months after he shocked Canelo Álvarez in Las Vegas to become undisputed at 168lb. The organization said Crawford had not paid its required fees from that victory or from his previous bout in 2024, despite “multiple” attempts to contact him and his team.With the title now vacant, the WBC has ordered its interim champion Christian Mbilli to face Sheeraz for the belt. The 26-year-old from Ilford made an explosive arrival to the division in July when he demolished local favorite Edgar Berlanga at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens
Favourable 2027 Rugby World Cup draw provides few potholes for England | Robert Kitson
As the Ashes have reminded us, it never pays to get too excited in advance about winning in Australia. But once the draw for the 2027 men’s Rugby World Cup had concluded and the various knockout permutations had been crunched there was a strong whiff of deja vu in the Sydney air. A World Cup in Australia and a decent draw for England? What could possibly go wrong?The organisers had already stoked the narrative nicely by wheeling out Jonny Wilkinson in the promotional tournament video, essentially a mashup of Mad Max and Wacky Races roaring across a dusty outback. When every Australian wakes up on Thursday to discover it is 666 days until the 2027 edition kicks off, the nagging fear of nightmarish history repeating itself will further intensify.The cards have certainly fallen more kindly for England than for several of their rivals
Wallabies must improve as World Cup draw delivers daunting All Blacks clash | Angus Fontaine
If the Wallabies are to fight their way to a World Cup triumph in front of their home crowds in 2027 they must first face off with arch-rivals New Zealand in the pool stages. The showdown between the traditional TransTasman rivals was set in stone at the tournament’s draw in Sydney on Wednesday night and will likely launch the six-week campaign of the 11th Rugby World Cup at Optus Stadium in Perth on 1 October 2027.The Wallabies will enter their home Cup outside the top seedings, ranked No 7 in the world and coming off a winless European tour for the first time since 1958. “We didn’t have a good November, it’s impossible to hide from that,” coach Joe Schmidt admitted last night of Australian rugby’s first 10-loss season. “It was an emotional rollercoaster of a year
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