Nigel Farage has said he would not accept former Tory cabinet minister Grant Shapps if he tried to join Reform after being rejected as a Conservative candidate.
The Reform UK leader has claimed “Reform wouldn’t take him” if the former defence secretary approached him about a role in the party.
Mr Shapps has been blocked from standing for the Conservatives at the next general election, it emerged this week. The veteran Tory lost his Welwyn Hatfield seat to Labour by 3,799 seats in 2024.
Farage’s party has welcomed former cabinet ministers Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman among a string of Tory defectors in recent years.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Mr Farage claimed “a couple” of other former Conservatives have sought private conversations with him, only to be told: “I’m busy.”
The Tories and Labour have refused to field candidates in the Clacton by-election triggered by Mr Farage as he faces intense scrutiny over his finances and backers. The move has been branded a “desperate stunt” by his opponents.
Instead he will face a record 33 rival candidates, leaving joke candidate Count Binface and actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox as his highest-profile opponents.
However he insisted the battle for the Essex seat is not a “farce” and he is submitting himself to public vote.
“And if those voters really think I’m a crook or a bad dude, they can get rid of me,” he added.
The parliamentary standards watchdog is currently looking into whether Mr Farage should have declared a £5m gift from Thailand-based crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne before he was an MP. The inquiry was later widened to look at whether he should have declared support from his friend and convicted criminal George Cottrell.
Challenged over the scandals, he said: “I’ve certainly been judged guilty already by the liberal establishment.”
However he added: “All right, perhaps I should have filled in a piece of paper. If that’s the worst thing I’ve done in life – not filling in a form – I would say that’s not too bad.”
He claims his lawyers advised him that no declaration was required.
He insisted: “I haven’t broken the law. I haven’t avoided tax. I haven’t misused public money. I haven’t bought a motorhome. My parliamentary expenses? I’ve barely claimed a penny. I don’t need to. I’ve got outside income.”
The 62-year-old, who called for increased security in the wake of the recent killing of Reform’s immigration and justice spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe, also complained his “expenses and bills have gone through the roof” as he ramps up security measures for those close to him.
“I’ll be living with increased levels of danger until the day I die,” he told the Telegraph.
This week a woman crashed her car seconds after winding down her window to swear at Mr Farage on the campaign trail in Clacton.
The Vauxhall driver appeared to swear out of her window at the Reform leader before running into the back of a BMW that had stopped at a red light.
Posting the footage on X, he said: “This lady shouted abuse at me and then crashed her own car. That’s what you might call instant karma!”
Mr Farage was doused with a McDonald’s banana milkshake outside a pub in Clacton in 2024 after announcing he would stand for election in the constituency.