Tories reveal plot to dethrone Reform MP as Kemi Badenoch braces for snap election

With the fear of a snap election on the horizon, the Conservative Party has already pinpointed seats where campaigning will be prioritised the next time Britons head to the polls.

As a result, the party is now in the process of selecting a new Tory candidate for Nigel Farage’s Clacton constituency, Robert Jenrick’s Newark constituency, with Aylesbury, Chelsea & Fulham, Hendon, Maidstone & Malling, North East Hampshire, Poole, Redditch, Ribble Valley, and South West Norfolk also included in the September set.

Now, the Tories have revealed their latest strategy to boost their numbers: target the so-called “Waitrose woman”.

Described as “aspirational”, an insider painted the caricature voter as “not necessarily a millionaire but above all wants a lower tax burden”.

“Our target voter wants to work hard, get on and pay less tax so they can have more money in their pocket,” they told the Mail on Sunday.

The voter could have backed Labour or the Liberal Democrats at the last election after becoming “heartily sick” of the Tories.

“There is a slightly conventional Westminster way of looking at people as only Left wing or only Right wing – we are not doing that,” they added.

GB News analysis, however, has shown that the Tories’ attempt to win back left-leaning voters has included the constituency of Reform MP Suella Braverman.

The People’s Channel has found that Hampshire is within the top three counties in the UK that the Tories’ “Waitrose Woman” strategy is honing in on.

Behind Surrey and affluent boroughs of south west and central London, Hampshire is home to 13 branches of the supermarket chain.

The MP for Fareham and Waterlooville, Suella Braverman, defected from the Conservative Party a few weeks after Mr Jenrick joined Reform’s ranks.

Once a senior figure within Boris Johnson’s Government, Mrs Braverman has become one of Mr Farage’s top voices within the populist party – while Reform UK also gears up for a snap general election.

Just last week, Tory Chairman Kevin Hollinrake appeared to signal Mrs Badenoch was not ready for a snap poll.

Mr Hollinrake suggested Tory insiders would rather Andy Burnham hold off until 2029 rather than call an election for May next year.

Speaking at a More in Common fringe event at his party’s Autumn Conference, Mr Hollinrake said: “We are not where we need to be right now.

“We don’t want an election right now, ideally.”

But Mrs Badenoch, during her opening speech in Birmingham, appeared sure her party would win the next General Election – which, she said, could be held as early as next May.

Last week, the North West Essex MP told MPs, members and journalists: “When we win the next election, and we will, we are going to need to hit the ground running.”