Nigel Farage has sought to persuade Lord Ben Houchen, the Conservative Tees Valley mayor, to defect to Reform UK in recent weeks but his advances have so far been unsuccessful.
Houchen was approached by the rightwing populist party late last year and had a meeting with its leader Farage and a staff member in mid-December, according to people briefed on the discussions.
The staff member approached Houchen again on Thursday, the same day Tory shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick defected to Farage’s party, saying the Reform leader wanted to have lunch with him.
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