Reform party leader Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage seemed to attract even more attention than usual this week – and not exactly the kind he likes.

Not only has the Guardian revealed 28 witnesses have now accused him of making anti-semitic and racist remarks while he was at school but, according to the Financial Times, he told donors he expected to make a merger or a pact with the Tories before the next election.

When it comes to the allegations against him, the Reform leader has only admitted to engaging in “banter in a playground” and rebuffed the FT’s story completely.

But the reports evidently got to him. Farage stunned journalists on Thursday with a furious rant against the BBC and ITV in a press conference, accusing them of “hypocrisy”.

He also claimed there would be no deal with the Conservatives, and that any such allegations were “ludicrous”.

But, he did suggest Reform could engineer “reverse takeover” where he would absorb the party by winning over defectors.

But Farage insisted: “A deal with them as they are would cost us votes.”

Reform are indeed still ahead in the polls. More in Common predicted in a September mega-survey of 20,000 Brits that the next general election looks like it might be theirs to lose.

And the racism row is yet to put a major dent in their consistent poll lead: YouGov found the party is still ahead on 25% as of December 1, with Labour on 22% and the Tories on 19%.

If it did not scare off too many supporters, a combined the Tory and Reform votes would give a joint right-wing party a very generous lead in the polls (44%, according to YouGov).

But Farage’s apparent dismay over the idea of working with the Conservatives ignores an obvious fact that his party is already made up of former Tories.

© HuffPost