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Top Tory Esther McVey has been caught saying the Conservatives should stand down and give Reform UK a free run at taking the Runcorn by-election from Labour. In comments at odds with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s position, the former cabinet minister said her party should not stand against Reform and allow Sir Keir Starmer’s party to sneak in through the middle.

In a recording passed to The Telegraph on Wednesday, Ms McVey is heard warning her party at a dinner last month: “I’m a pragmatist, and I think Conservatives are pragmatists, and when we get to the general election, would I be making, looking at an electoral pact [with Reform]? Absolutely I would. We don’t want two Right-wing parties cutting our own throats and Labour getting in, which could happen. So we do have to be pragmatic.”

Saying that she knew Reform’s MPs very well, she added: “And I’d sooner say to them, there’s a couple of seats you can get there, that we came a very distant fourth, and you came second.

“We’ll stay out the way. I want you to win it. And they can do the same for us.”

Challenged about her stance by a fellow diner, Ms McVey doubled down: “What you want to do is, like I said, where Ukip came second and we were a very, very distant fourth, like in Runcorn, like where Mike Amesbury punched his constituent.

“You’d probably say there ‘let Reform win that seat’ because you might need them in the South West, that we win a seat.”

Despite Runcorn and Helsby being Labour’s 16th-safest seat at the General Election, many believe Mr Farage’s candidate Sarah Pochin has a chance of winning.

A recent poll by Lord Ashcroft put Reform ahead in the seat, with 40% of the vote to Labour’s 35%. The Tories trailed behind on just 10% support.

The insurgent party came second with 18% at the 2024 General Election, with Labour taking the Cheshire seat with 53% of the vote share and the Tories third on 16%.

The poll of 702 people in the constituency, carried out between March 3 and 12, found 55% of Labour voters at the last election said they would definitely vote, compared to 78% of 2024 Reform backers.

The by-election was sparked by former Labour MP Mike Amesbury quitting the House of Commons after punching a constituent.

He was given a 10-week prison term, which was reduced to a suspended sentence on appeal, leaving him at risk of being ousted from Parliament through the recall process.

He won his seat last year with a majority of 14,696 over Reform UK and his resignation will be a first by-election test for Sir Keir as Prime Minister.

Ms McVey said of the leaked recording: “I am not sure what is controversial about that – it is the statement of the blindingly obvious.

“The only person who benefits from ruling out a pragmatic electoral pact between Reform and Conservatives is Keir Starmer and people might want to reflect on that.”

Reform UK has been approached for comment.