Rishi Sunak has failed to rule out Nigel Farage rejoining the Conservative Party more than three decades since he left.
Reports have been swirling that the former UKIP leader may join the party before the election, due some time next year, after he was filmed dancing at the Conservative Party conference in October alongside Pritti Patel.
His odds to become the next party leader have also slashed in recent weeks to as low as 14/1 with some bookmakers.
Stanley Johnson, Boris Johnson's father, said the Tories should "open their arms" to Farage, adding: "I think we cannot afford to have a man of that talent not in our camp at the next election."
Asked if he agreed, Sunak said: "Our party has always been a broad church but my focus is consistently on delivering on the things that matter to people. I set out a set of priorities at the beginning of the year and we have just had over a week ago the autumn statement that delivered on those."
Polls suggest Reform threat
Allowing Farage back into the party may help gain some voters back form Reform UK, the far-right party set up by Farage himself in 2018.
Latest polls suggest that they're the country's third-largest party by vote share with 11%, while the Lib Dems sit on 10%.
Robert Struthers from pollsters BMG Research, said: "All this is fuelling support for Reform UK, who have broken into double digits for the first time in our poll tracker. Just over a year ago, they were in the low single digits, but Sunak now faces a serious challenge on his right flank. Strikingly, almost one in five who voted Conservative in 2019 say they now intend to vote Reform, up from just one in 10 in October."
The same poll suggests a 16% gap between Labour (43%) and the Tories (27%).