Former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries has predicted that Reform will overtake the Tories in general election polls this weekend.

The culture secretary under Boris Johnson made the prediction after a YouGov survey showed Nigel Farage’s party just two percentage points behind the Conservatives.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, she said: “I’m guessing that after the appalling events of the past few days over candidate selection, that Reform will have overtaken us in the polls by Saturday evening.”

The poll put Reform on 17 percent and the Tories on 19 percent, while Labour fell by six points to 40 percent.

It came as Richard Holden, the Chairman of the Conservative Party, was imposed on a safe Tory seat as the sole candidate in a process which local activists have condemned as a “stitch up”.

Conservatives in Basildon may challenge the decision which attempts to ensure national Mr Holden becomes the area’s parliamentary candidate.

Mr Holden, until recently the MP for North West Durham, was the sole candidate presented on what was expected to be a shortlist of three names for Basildon constituency candidates, according to local Tory members.

The former MP has held several ministerial roles, as well as chairmanship of the Conservative Party, and would replace John Baron, who announced he would stand down as an MP in October last year.

Basildon and Billericay is regarded as a safe Conservative seat, with Mr Baron having won a majority of 20,412 over his nearest Labour opponent in 2010.

But the decision has prompted consternation among local Conservatives, with the party’s group leader on Basildon council branding the central Tory office as “shameful” and claiming he would not campaign for Mr Holden.

Ms Dorries said: ” I’m hearing from MPs who haven’t done a [chicken] run and have chosen to remain in their seats until the last day.

“The words they have used to describe the actions of Richard Holden and other MPs who have been rewarded for their role in crashing an 80 seat majority and fleeing to safer seats – I can’t repeat. ‘A punch in the face,’ ‘demoralising’ ‘corrupt’ are a few of the milder comments.”