There will be many words written about the Makerfield and Aberdeen by-elections, but one thing is clear – the results have left the idea of the Conservatives doing a deal with Reform stone-dead.

When those elections were called, I came under intense pressure to 'unite the Right'.

The argument sounded clever: the Conservative Party had never won in Makerfield, so why not do a deal with Nigel Farage and stand down?

Reform UK could do the same in Aberdeen, and everyone would claim victory.

Thankfully, I know terrible advice when I hear it and the results on Friday proved my point. 

Reform would not have won Makerfield even if it had taken every vote on the Right.

Meanwhile, in Aberdeen, the Conservatives took half the votes despite Reform being on the ballot paper.

Had I listened, our emphatic victory in Aberdeen would have been diminished. People would have sneered that we won only because Reform stepped aside. A win 'helped' by Reform would have been no real win at all.

In any case, we would never have got 50 per cent of the vote in Aberdeen if our campaign had been associated with Farage's divisive rhetoric.

Labour and the SNP would have been let off the hook for the damage their energy policies are causing.

We showed we can unite people with a clear message of common sense – on welfare, defence, energy and with a candidate of good character.

Farage may be trying to unite the Right. I am trying to unite the country.

I met a small-business owner recently who couldn't decide between the Conservatives and Reform.

He thought Reform were a low-tax, small-state option. He was shocked when I told him Reform promises a bigger state, more spending, nationalisation, gimmicks and unfunded giveaways.

These are not the policies of the Right. They are populism.

The truth is, if you want lower taxes, you cannot vote for a party that keeps finding new ways to spend money it does not have.

Reform dress like Thatcherites but act like Corbynites. Reform is not like the Conservative Party. At all.

We are not the same, and voters are not ours to trade like football cards.

There are so many reasons why we can't 'unite the Right' in this way. Where does one start?

It's not just policy differences or the fact that everyone who has ever worked closely with Farage has fallen out with him. It's the lack of seriousness, the lack of discipline, the lack of good character.

I could point out the competence issue with Reform councils, or that every Reform economic policy has fallen apart when people look at the numbers because it cannot do detail.

Those who think politics is all about policy or vibes are most likely to talk about doing deals. But politics is also about character.

What kind of characters are in Reform? Do they take responsibility? Do they do the hard work? Do they tell people the truth? Do they calm the country when it is angry, or pour petrol on the fire?

Character matters in politics because character is what is tested when things get tough.

Do you have the strength to face down your own backbenchers on wasteful welfare spending?

Keir Starmer did not. He failed that test.

And what kind of character accepts £5million in cash and says it was merely a gift?

Mail on Sunday readers have far too much common sense to believe that. Nobody gets £5million in their pocket for nothing, whatever Nigel Farage claims.

Character tests how you will use power. Will you be restrained? Or will you use power to harass political opponents?

Restore would not be causing Reform so many problems had Farage and Rupert Lowe not fallen out so spectacularly, with Lowe even being reported to the police over allegations that went nowhere.

Yes, I know that Reform has tapped into the country's anger.

But it is easy to promise everything. It is easy to blame everyone else, as Starmer did repeatedly. It is easy to shout about betrayal, easy to offer unfunded giveaways and move on before anyone asks how the numbers add up.

Winning elections may be about popularity, but government is different.

Government means making tough choices – something Andy Burnham is going to learn the hard way.

I know what people will say. The Conservatives were in government for 14 years. We did not get everything right. On some things, we failed. You were right to expect better from us.

That is why I have changed the Conservative Party.

No more Left-wing policies, drift or timid managerialism. We are ditching mad Net Zero policies, leaving the ECHR so we can deport those who don't belong here and planning an economic revolution that will deliver prosperity to our country.

Some say refusing a deal risks letting in Left-wing coalitions. I disagree.

The way to stop Left-wing coalitions is to build a Conservative majority that reaches beyond the Right.

'Unite the Right' is really just a demand that Conservatives stand down and give Reform a free run because it can't win a general election otherwise.

Well, we can.

The surest way to hand Britain to the Left for a generation is to abandon the serious centre-Right and floating voters any Conservative majority needs.

I met supporters of my party who would rather stay at home, vote Lib Dem or sometimes even Labour before backing Reform.

That is why Nigel Farage lost in Makerfield. That is why, under my leadership, the Conservative Party is focused on being the party of common sense.

Britain is too divided already.

If you want secure borders without turning communities against each other; if you want equality under the law, not a fight between Black Lives Matter and White Lives Matter; if you want British culture without American-style grievance politics, then the Conservatives are the only party on the Right who will deliver this.

We need a government that stands with people who work hard, save hard, play by the rules and want their children to inherit a better Britain.

I want to unite our country. Around fairness. Around responsibility. Around British culture. Around common sense.

That is how we beat Labour. That is how we defeat the politics of rage. And that is how the Conservatives win again, on our own terms, for the good of the whole country, as we did in Aberdeen.

Tory leader issues a defiant pledge after the Right's split in Makerfield helps put Burnham on a path to Number 10 

By Glen Owen

Kemi Badenoch has killed off any prospect of an electoral pact with Nigel Farage after Reform UK's poor showing in last week's by-elections.

Writing in today's Mail on Sunday, the Tory leader emphasises distinctions between the Conservatives and Mr Farage's party, saying: 'We are not the same, and voters are not ours to trade like football cards.'

And citing Reform's support for 'a bigger state, more spending, nationalisation, gimmicks and unfunded giveaways', she says, devastatingly: 'Reform dress like Thatcherites but act like Corbynites.'

Andy Burnham's emphatic victory over Reform in the Makerfield by-election on Thursday has put the Manchester mayor on course to oust Sir Keir Starmer and form what could become the most Left-wing Government in a generation.

But Mrs Badenoch's words today will dash any immediate prospect of the main Right-wing parties joining forces to defeat Labour.

Despite Reform's initial hopes of running Mr Burnham close in Makerfield, the Labour candidate won 55 per cent of the vote, well ahead of Reform's Robert Kenyon on 35 per cent.

Restore, led by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, registered another 7 per cent for the Right. The Tories won 2 per cent.

On the same day, the Scottish Conservatives won a Westminster by-election for the first time in more than 50 years, taking Aberdeen South from the SNP.

Mrs Badenoch writes: 'Farage may be trying to unite the Right, I am trying to unite the country.'

Her intervention comes amid turmoil in the Government, with Sir Keir agonising over whether to fight Mr Burnham for the leadership.

The PM is spending the weekend holding highly charged discussions about his future with his wife, Lady Starmer, who has so far urged him to ignore the growing number of ministers and backbenchers urging him to set out a timetable for his resignation.

One Labour source said last night: 'Keir is raging about Andy. It is volcanic.'

But another said: 'The only question now is the manner and timing of Starmer's departure. Everyone's focus is now on who Andy puts in his Cabinet.'

Mr Burnham is due to meet the Prime Minister tomorrow. His allies have claimed he will present Sir Keir with a list of 200 MPs who back him in a bid to persuade the PM to stand aside.

Labour party rules say any leadership contender requires the backing of 81 MPs to trigger a contest.

Sir Keir has told colleagues that a battle for the leadership would be damaging to the party, but he is expected to face a showdown at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting unless he has agreed to step down by then.

Mr Burnham is understood to favour a handover in September, to allow him time to prepare for No 10 over the summer.

Meanwhile, in other developments in Westminster yesterday:

• Sir Keir was said to be plotting to thwart a 'coronation' of Mr Burnham by secretly lending support to a challenge from former health secretary Wes Streeting, with the aim of triggering a full-blown contest to flush out 'a lot of senior people who privately hate Andy';
• Lord Falconer, a former justice secretary under Tony Blair, became the latest senior Labour figure to call for the Prime Minister to step down following Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband – with the New Labour grandee saying Sir Keir had 'absolutely no authority';
• Mr Burnham was warned against making Ed Miliband his chancellor if he becomes prime minister, with Labour MPs, business leaders and the unions joining forces to express alarm that his high tax, Net Zero obsessions would be toxic to voters;
• Moderate Labour MPs expressed alarm at the sight of John McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn's right-hand man, crying with joy at the prospect of Mr Burnham in No 10; 
• One of Mr Burnham's economic advisers, Jim O'Neill, co-president of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, sparked fresh fears about Britain's debt mountain by calling on the Government to be 'bolder about borrowing to invest'.

In her MoS article, Mrs Badenoch writes: 'Winning elections may be about popularity but Government is different. Government means making tough choices – something Andy Burnham is going to learn the hard way.'

And on ruling out a Conservative-Reform pact, she added: 'Some say refusing a deal risks letting in Left-wing coalitions. I disagree. The way to stop Left-wing coalitions is to build a Conservative majority that reaches beyond the Right.

'"Unite the Right" is really just a demand that Conservatives stand down and give Reform a free run because they can't win a general election otherwise. Well, we can.'

A Reform spokesman said Mrs Badenoch's comments about their politics were 'quite ironic – as it's exactly how the Tories governed in office. She was one of the main culprits who dressed like a Thatcherite and acted like a Corbynite'.

The spokesman added: 'We won't need to ever deal with the Tories. They broke Britain and we won't give them a chance to do it again. We have now led the national opinion polls for well over a year.

'Kemi has taken the Tories backwards, from 25 per cent to 18 per cent.'