Richard Tice says he and Lee Anderson have “had a bit of a row” – but have now agreed to disagree.
Reports at the weekend revealed the Tory Deputy Chairman, Mr Anderson, who presents a show on GBNews, had been recorded speaking about an approach from Mr Tice’s party, Reform UK.
Then, on Sunday morning, the row escalated when Mr Tice, who also presents a show on GBNews, claimed that Mr Anderson had threatened to quit the Tories in order to land a promotion.
Speaking to Patrick Christys on GBNews, the leader of Reform UK, said: “We’ve had a bit of a row, we’ve agreed to disagree, but what I will say is, conversations that I have with ministers, with former ministers, with Tory MPs, who are fuming about the betrayal of the promises on immigration and stopping the boats; those conversations remain completely confidential. I won’t even confirm who I have or have not spoken to. That’s my position and I’m sticking to it. That’s as far as I will go: people need to know they can trust me to keep conversations confidential.”
Meanwhile, Mr Tice, has also criticised the role of the Home Office in handling mass migration.
He said: “I’ve been saying for months that the Home Office is not fit for purpose, it hasn’t been for years and years. They actually believe in open borders and want mass immigration.
“They constantly have a track record of working against the wishes of their elected ministers and I think you’ve got to dich it, you’ve got to start with a whole new Department of Immigration that is staffed very deliberately by people who actually believe in the cause of sovereign, independent protected borders.
“People who are deliberately sceptical about the claims that are coming in, that are looking at the visa applications that are coming in – the legal ones – with a very close eye because that’s how you actually carry out the wishes of the people.
“The wishes of the people are crystal clear: election after election to bring migration numbers down. That’s what they voted for and that’s what the civil servants should be enacting.
“[existing civil servants] are very welcome to reapply but this is for a whole new job and this is for an area where you don’t want civil service neutrality; you want people who believe in defending our borders, in protecting our borders and carrying out the wishes of the British people who have constantly voted to reduce immigration.
“That is why our policy is absolutely clear: one in, one out. That equals net zero.
“About 400,000 to 450,000 people leave the country every year so you can have smart immigration – highly qualified, highly skilled people to that number, but no more.
“You can almost have a Ryanair booking system as you get near the end of the year and the numbers get towards zero – there are all sorts of ways you can cut it.
“But the bottom line is – one in, one out. We’ve got the biggest population ever, we’ve got record numbers of our own people on out of work benefits, it’s very simple. We’ve got to train our own people.
“Here’s the big rub when people bang on about ‘oh we need it for the social and healthcare system: Thirty years ago, when net immigration was less than 100,000, we didn’t seem to have a crisis then.
“Why? Because they were paid properly, they were trained properly, they didn’t have to do degrees, they got straight into the job with training, and that’s how you look after people. That’s what we need to get back to – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
“The current Home Office is broken, it’s trashed: bin it and start again.
