Efforts to secure a political pact between Reform UK and rivals Restore Britain descended into farce on Monday night. Mr Farage has revealed that he had made contact with Mr Lowe, offering exploratory talks. But Mr Farage refused calls to ditch Tory defectors to Reform – who also include Lee Anderson – saying: 'I don't ditch my friends. Mr Farage said: 'If you wanted to do a political deal with somebody, you would contact them privately and not do a 12-minute video. On X, Mr Lowe posted a screenshot of the message supposedly sent by Mr Farage which read 'Will call later', and said no call had been forthcoming.