Nigel Farage: Conservatives facing ‘extinction event’ and he’s aiming to replace them
Nigel Farage believes it’s possible to replace the Conservative Party with his own Reform Party as he predicts an “extinction event” for the government at the next election.
Mr Farage was speaking to Sky News political editor Beth Rigby at the launch of the Popular Conservatism (PopCon) group in Westminster.
Headlined by former prime minister Liz Truss, the group claims it is not looking to replace Rishi Sunak as leader of the Conservatives, but instead spark a debate on ideas.
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Asked which party he wants to be in, Mr Farage said: “Oh Reform, no question about it.”
Speaking in a room full of Conservative MPs and activists, he added: “I think at some point in time a lot of the people here today will draw the same conclusion.
“And… I know it’s only once every hundred years these things happen, but I do think we face the possibility that this could be the end of the road for the Conservative Party.”
He added: “They’ve been around since 1834. They’re now facing a possible extinction event, and they know it.
“I think PopCon makes six families now of backbench Conservative MPs – they are bitterly divided.
“I don’t know what the outcome of all of this is going to be, but we do, for the first time ever, think it’s possible to replace them.”
He later added: “I want the Conservative Party replaced.”
Who are the Reform Party, where did they come from and what are their policies?
Ms Truss spoke to a room of Tory MPs and activists. Pic: Reuters
The Conservatives are continuing to languish in the polls, with an average deficit to Labour of around 20 points.
Meanwhile, Reform is trending upwards, and is now on level pegging with the Liberal Democrats.
Mr Farage added that, while he worked with the Conservatives in 2019 – facilitating an 80-seat majority – he now wants “nothing to do with” them.
Speaking about the common policy grounds he has with the PopCon group, Mr Farage said: “There is a clear majority in the country for border controls, a huge demand amongst nearly six million people running their own businesses to get the regulators off their backs and free them up.
“These are the things that leading Conservative figures and Reform figures agree on.”
Among the Tories who addressed the conference were Ms Truss, Lee Anderson and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Between them, they challenged the government’s position on smoking bans, the approach to net zero, the European Convention on Human Rights, tax and quangos.
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Ms Truss said the current government was failing to take on “left-wing extremists”, and also encouraged “secret Conservatives” to come forward to campaign and stand for the party.
Also in the audience were former home secretary Priti Patel, ex-chief whip Wendy Morton, former Tory Party chair Sir Jake Berry, Brendan Clarke-Smith, and Tory peer Lord Frost.
Sir Jacob told Sky News that he would like to see the UK leaving the ECHR as part of the next Conservative Party manifesto – but did not believe Mr Sunak would do that.
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In response to assertions he is a member of the unreachable political elite, Jacob Rees-Mogg acknowledged he has a ‘very fortunate background’, but insisted he is advocating what people want.
The former business secretary said in his speech that the “age of Davos man is over” – a reference to the World Economic Forum meeting held in the Swiss town of Davos.
Asked whether he – as someone who went to Eton and worked in finance – was part of the elite, Sir Jacob told Sky News that he makes “no bones” about being from a “very fortunate background”.
He went on to say that what he wants to see is more power given to parliament and not arms-length bodies so there is more accountability for his constituents.
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Sir Jacob disagreed with Mr Farage’s assessment of the Conservative Party’s future, saying that he believes it will “carry on a bit past Nigel Farage”.
“I don’t mean to criticise Nigel, but the Tory Party has a very long history,” he added. “It manages to keep on going – it’s rather the Duracell bunny of political life.”
The list of the top holders of US President Donald Trump’s memecoin has been finalized ahead of background checks to apply for a dinner and “VIP tour” with the president on May 22.
In a May 12 X post, the TRUMP memecoin project said it would stop considering additional purchases for a dinner with the president, adding that the top tokenholders had been notified to apply for background checks if they wanted to attend.
According to data provided on the project’s leaderboard, the top 220 wallets held more than 13.7 million tokens as of May 12, worth roughly $174 million at the time of publication.
It’s unclear who, if any, of the wallet holders will choose to apply for and attend the dinner with Trump, or the “exclusive reception” expected to be in the White House for the top 25 holders, on May 22. A May 7 Bloomberg report suggested that the majority of tokenholders were based outside of the United States, leading to potential security concerns and conflicts of interest.
Many US lawmakers and figures in the crypto industry criticized the president for launching the memecoin just days before taking office on Jan. 20. In the wake of his dinner announcement on April 23, the calls for congressional oversight and allegations of corruption have intensified, with one senator calling for Trump’s impeachment and other representatives refusing to consider crypto-related legislation until their concerns were addressed.
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Companies also apparently seeking influence over Trump’s policies have invested in the memecoin. In April, Freight Technologies said it would invest $20 million in the token, suggesting that it could affect the president’s trade war between the US and Mexico, where the firm conducts some of its business. As of May 12, the company had not announced whether it qualified to send a representative to the dinner.
Not Trump’s first appeal to crypto users
During his 2024 campaign, Trump hosted a dinner with supporters who purchased his “mugshot” non-fungible tokens, which featured a picture of the then-presidential candidate at his surrender to authorities on charges he attempted to overturn the 2020 election.
Many of the “mugshot” attendees publicly shared their identities on social media ahead of and during the event, but at the time of publication, no one appeared to be claiming they would apply for the memecoin dinner. Wallets with the usernames “Sun” and “elon” have led to speculation that Tron founder Justin Sun and Tesla CEO Elon Musk — both Trump supporters who have financial interests tied to Trump’s presidency — could be among the attendees.
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced partnerships between the city and financial firms as part of his crypto plans.
In a May 12 press conference at Gracie Mansion, the the city’s official mayoral residence, Adams said June Ou, founder of financial services company Figure, and Richie Hecker, CEO of private equity firm Traction and Scale, would be assisting the city in its crypto efforts. He spoke of Ou and Hecker acting as advisers for New York City’s next steps in “economic development and opportunities to serve the public using digital assets.”
“We are focused on the long-term values of these technologies for our city and its people, not chasing memes or trends,” said Adams, adding:
“If you’re in the crypto, blockchain, Web3 or the fintech space, New York City is open for business.”
Adams made digital assets a large part of his policy platform after assuming office in January 2022, when he announced plans to accept his first three paychecks in Bitcoin (BTC). In a 2023 financial disclosure, the mayor reported holding between $5,000 and $54,999.99 worth of Bitcoin, but suggested it was worth more in a December 2024 press conference.
Trump DOJ dismissed the corruption case against Adams
Adams had been facing corruption charges over alleged illegal donations from the Turkish government, but Justice Department officials appointed by US President Donald Trump stepped in and directed local authorities to intervene. The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be reopened, in April, and Adams traveled to the White House on May 9 to reportedly thank Trump for his “words of support” during his 2024 campaign.
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It’s unclear whether Adams’ May 12 announcement was related to his meeting with the president, who has also pushed significant policies related to digital assets since taking office. Cointelegraph reached out to the mayor’s office for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Adams announced in April that the city would be hosting its own crypto summit on May 20.
Magazine: Crypto City: Guide to New York
Politics
Minister does not rule out ‘supermax’ jails for most dangerous offenders following alleged Rudakubana attack on prison officer
“Supermax” jails could be built to house the most dangerous offenders following a spate of alleged attacks on staff, the prisons minister has said.
James Timpson told the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge that “we shouldn’t rule anything out” when asked if the most dangerous criminals should be placed in top security prisons.
It comes after Southport triple killer Axel Rudakubana allegedly threw boiling water from a kettle at an officer at HMP Belmarsh on Thursday. Police are now investigating.
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Is the UK prison system broken?
Before that, three prison officers were also allegedly attacked by 28-year-old Hashem Abedi – the brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi – with hot cooking oil and “improvised knives”, potentially made from a baking tray.
Speaking from HMP Preston for a special programme of the Politics Hub, Mr Timpson told Sophy Ridge: “We inherited a complete mess in the prison system.
“Violence is up, assaults on staff is up. But for me, we shouldn’t rule anything out.”
He added: “What we need to do is to speak to our staff. They’re the experts at dealing with these offenders day in, day out. “
Mr Timpson – who was the chief executive of Timpson Group before he was appointed prisons minister last year – said the violence in prisons was “too high”.
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Are we sending too many people to prison?
He continued: “The number of people when you have prisons are so full, and the people in there are not going to education or into purposeful activity.
“You get more violence and that is totally unacceptable. Our staff turn up to work to help turn people.
“They want to turn people’s lives around. They didn’t turn up to work to get assaulted. It’s totally unacceptable.”
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Reflecting on the crisis facing the UK prison system ahead of the government’s sentencing review, Mr Timpson said a major problem was the high rate of reoffending, saying “80% of offending is reoffending”.
He said people were leaving places like HMP Preston “addicted to drugs, nowhere to live, mental health problems – and that’s why they keep coming back”.
Asked whether every prison had a drugs issue, he replied: “100%.”
“If we want to keep the public safe, we need to do a lot more of the work in here and in the community. But also we need to build more prisons.”
Put to him that making more use of community sentences – thought to be one of the recommendations in the government’s sentencing review – might be considered a “cushy option” compared to a custodial sentence, Mr Timpson said: “There are some people in this prison tonight who would prefer to be in prison than do a community sentence – but that’s not everybody.
“Community sentences need to be tough punishments outside of prison, not just to help them address their offending behaviour, but also the victims need to see punishments being done too and for me, technology has a big part to play in the future.”
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