Tories overtake Reform in polls thanks to Farage's 'fishy' finances and Kemi's 'good leadership', party chairman claims
Nigel Farage has come under heavy scrutiny over his failure to declare a £5million gift he received before becoming an MP in the 2024 general election from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne
The Conservatives have overtaken Reform UK in the polls thanks to Kemi Badenoch's "good leadership" and Nigel Farage's "£5 million fishy donation", the Tory chairman has told LBC.
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Some 3,250 British voters were surveyed by More in Common in August which found support for Ms Badenoch stands at 23%.
It means their total vote share is just one point ahead of Reform and three points behind Labour.
Explaining the turnaround, Kevin Hollinrake told Nick Ferrari on Breakfast: "It's down to good leadership from Kemi Badenoch.
"It's down to having a good team behind her and a good plan to take the country forward and persistently holding the government to account, and we've got lots more work to do.
"Reform have their own problems, which has helped as well, not least the £5 million fishy donation that Nigel Farage seems to have received.
"But nevertheless, we're focusing on our own game, and we've got lots more work to do to convince the British public that we're the right people to represent the country."
More in Common last placed the Tories ahead of Reform UK in April 2025, and forecasted a Labour drop to 26 per cent.
But a split between the Tories and Reform would likely ensure Andy Burnham would win a snap general election should he to call one.
Mr Farage has come under heavy scrutiny over his failure to declare a £5million gift he received before becoming an MP in the 2024 general election from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.
The parliamentary watchdog reopened its investigation into his finances just hours after he was declared winner of the Clacton by-election last month.
The probe was paused when he stepped down as an MP - only to announce that he would stand in another contest for the Essex seat.
This has since been undone after he beat the only main contender - Count Binface - after all the main parties refused to stand.
Mr Hollinrake added: "We did some good things in 14 years and we shouldn't be shy about saying that. You know where the country was in 2010 and it did take us ten years to balance the books of day-to-day spending, but we did.
"But we did make some mistakes, particularly on migration and allowing the courts and quangos to have too much power."
Ahead of the return to the House of Commons on Tuesday, Ms Badenoch completed a reshuffle of her senior Tory team, sacking Sir Mel Stride as shadow chancellor and bringing a new generation of MPs into the shadow cabinet.
The Conservative leader carried out the reshuffle of her inner circle ahead of the party’s conference in October.