THE Tories must team up with Nigel Farage as there is not "much difference" between their core policies, Suella Braverman has demanded.
The former Home Secretary insisted the Tories are a "broad church" and should not exclude anyone who wants "Conservatives to get elected".
She argued there are minimal differences between the Brexit supremo's policies and those of her party, suggesting a merger could consolidate their power against Sir Keir Starmer.
Her call to unite "unite the right" comes as Rishi Sunak reels from a tough week, topped by his blunder at the D-Day commemorations.
The PM will return to the campaign trail today after spending the weekend licking his wounds and largely avoiding the media.
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As the party prepares to launch its manifesto on Tuesday, Ms Braverman told The Times she welcomed the PM's more hardline approach to immigration, including new policy to introduce a cap on work and family visas and his toughening stance on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
She also joked he had adopted the “Suella agenda”.
The manifesto is expected to include a pledge to reform Britain's membership of the euro court - leaving all options on the table should that fail.
On Mr Farage's return, Ms Braverman said: "We need to, in the future, to find some way to work together because there shouldn’t be big differences between us.
“I would welcome Nigel into the Conservative party. There’s not much difference really between him and many of the policies that we stand for.
“We are a broad church, we should be a welcoming party and an inclusive party and if someone is supportive of the party, that’s a precondition and they want Conservatives to get elected then they should be welcomed.”
Mr Farage - who announced his extraordinary comeback to frontline politics last week - says Reform UK will replace the Tories as the opposition to Labour after polling day.
He told the Sunday Express: "This election is over. Labour are going to win by a mile,” he said. “The only question for voters now is who the opposition is going to be.”
Mr Farage will today lead a Reform UK press conference setting out the party’s economic plans.
They have already set out an ambition to slash £91 billion off public spending by stopping the Bank of England paying interest on quantitative easing reserves and finding £50 billion of wasteful spending in Whitehall.
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