Hello and welcome to Rundown, a podcast from Politics Home.

I'm your host, Alan Tolhurst, and this week we're taking a look at the rise of Reform

UK, after recent polling put the right-wing party as high as 12%, and the impact it could have on the outcome

of this year's general election. Joining me to look at all that in the wake of Rishu Suna

at getting a Rwanda bill through the House of Commons,

I'm delighted to say we have Ben Habib,

co-deputy leader of Reform UK,

as well as Christabel Cooper,

Director of Research at the Think Tank, Labour Together,

as well as my poll home colleague, our political editor, Adam Payne.

I'm going to start with you, Ben. I'm going to ask, actually, we're going to ask the two questions, I think, that anyone

from reform is always asked whenever they're going to appear in the media, which is,

is Nigel Farage going to swoop in the head of the election, and will there be a deal with

the Tories?

We can get those two out of the way early, so we don't have to come back to them. straight away. There will be no deal with the Tories. The basis on which I joined Reform

UK was a commitment by Richard that there wouldn't be. Richard Tice that there were. Richard Tice

that there wouldn't be a deal with the Tories. If there is a deal with the Tories, I'll be out at the

front door before you can say, Robert's your father's brother. Right. Okay, that's pretty definitive. On the first question, is it a little bit more up in the air?

I can't answer for Nigel.

If you'd ask me that question three months ago,

I would have said the chances of Nigel joining, I think, are very remote.

Yeah.

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