Tory donor Sir John Hall defects to Reform saying Nigel Farage will 'fight for my English rights and customs' as party leader plays to 1,000-strong crowd in Sunderland amid signs his Ukraine views are hitting party's popularity
Tory donor Sir John Hall was unveiled as a Reform supporter today, just a week before the election, in the latest blow to Rishi Sunak.
The ex-Newcastle United chairman, who has given the Conservatives more than £500,000 since 2007, was unveiled by Nigel Farage at a campaign rally today attended by around 1,000 people.
Speaking to reporters Sir John, 91, a property developer who helped bankroll Theresa May's 2017 election campaign, said Reform would 'fight for my English rights and customs'.
He watched on in Houghton le Spring, near Sunderland, as Mr Farage did a greatest hits routine for hundreds of people.
He joked that it was the first time a Newcastle boss would get a round of applause in Sunderland, before repeating his claim that the migrant crisis on the Channel coast 300 miles to the south was 'an invasion' and demanded more 'stop-and-search' by police to cut knife crime - a tactic whose use has been controversial because it is seen to unfairly target black people.
Mr Farage said: 'I'm going to ask you to put football rivalries aside for a moment, I'm delighted that joining us today, supporting us, giving us a donation after decades of publicly supporting the Conservatives, somebody who has been a phenomenal, amazing success story, indeed role model for people in the North East, with us today, supporting us, with us now is Sir John Hall.'
However, it comes as Reform's support appears to be dropping as a result of his controversial comments on Ukraine. Last week Mr Farage suggested Vladimir Putin had been provoked into invading the country by Nato's eastward expansion.
Yesterday he suggested president Zelensky should make peace with Russia to save lives, even if it mans ceding large parts of his country to the dictator's autocratic regime.
![The ex-Newcastle United chairman, who has given the Conservatives more than £500,000, was unveiled by Nigel Farage at a campaign rally in Wearside today attended by around 1,000 people.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/27/13/86641765-0-image-a-31_1719490689773.jpg)
The ex-Newcastle United chairman, who has given the Conservatives more than £500,000, was unveiled by Nigel Farage at a campaign rally in Wearside today attended by around 1,000 people.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/27/13/86641749-13575961-image-a-49_1719491181400.jpg)
He watched on in Houghton le Spring, near Sunderland, as Mr Farage did a greatest hits routine for hundreds of people.
![Three separate polls this week showed support for Nigel Farage 's outfit dipping, after a huge backlash.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/27/13/86641773-13575961-image-a-45_1719490887931.jpg)
Three separate polls this week showed support for Nigel Farage 's outfit dipping, after a huge backlash.
Three separate polls this week showed support for Nigel Farage's outfit dipping, after a huge backlash.
A JL Partners survey conducted between June 21 and 24 found that Reform was down three points to 15 per cent, with the Tories up two to 25 per cent.
Savanta research carried out on the same dates had the Conservatives up two on 21 per cent while Reform fell by the same proportion to 14 per cent.
Deltapoll found Mr Farage's party was down one on 15 per cent, with the Tories stable on 19 per cent.
However a megapoll that dropped yesterday suggested his party could still be on course to win 18 seats on July 4.
After the event at Rainton Meadows, Sir John said the Tories had been a failure for the last 14 years.
'English is my way of life, which I feel is under threat,' the 91-year-old told reporters.
'The Reform party are the only ones I feel who are going to speak about saving my English culture.'
Sir John, who grew up in a Northumberland mining family and made his fortune developing Europe's largest shopping centre on Tyneside, said he was not against immigration.
'But I am against people who are coming, not really to be part of our society, but to bring over their own ways and try and install them, the way they want to live.'
He added: 'We have sleepwalked into this battle for hearts and minds and souls of everybody here.
'Nigel Farage is the only one who speaks for what I feel should be my English way of life.'
Mr Farage told the rally in County Durham that 'something about our culture is directly under threat' as a result of immigration.
![A JL Partners survey conducted between June 21 and 24 found that Reform was down three points to 15 per cent, with the Tories up two to 25 per cent](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/27/13/86544949-13575961-A_JL_Partners_survey_conducted_between_June_21_and_24_found_that-a-46_1719491055155.jpg)
A JL Partners survey conducted between June 21 and 24 found that Reform was down three points to 15 per cent, with the Tories up two to 25 per cent
![Savanta research carried out on the same dates had the Conservatives up two on 21 per cent while Reform fell by the same proportion to 14 per cent](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/27/13/86544959-13575961-Savanta_research_carried_out_on_the_same_dates_had_the_Conservat-a-47_1719491057284.jpg)
Savanta research carried out on the same dates had the Conservatives up two on 21 per cent while Reform fell by the same proportion to 14 per cent
![Deltapoll found Mr Farage's party was down one on 15 per cent, with the Tories stable on 19 per cent](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/27/13/86544963-13575961-Deltapoll_found_Mr_Farage_s_party_was_down_one_on_15_per_cent_wi-a-48_1719491059986.jpg)
Deltapoll found Mr Farage's party was down one on 15 per cent, with the Tories stable on 19 per cent
He said: 'We've accepted, absolutely, since the late 1940s that immigration into Britain can be a good thing. Certainly the choice of food in most of our towns is rather better as a result of it.
'But what has happened over the course of the last 25 years is something entirely different. It is mass migration on a level that in fact begins, not just to divide and damage communities and potentially to set people apart from each other - which is dangerous, but also I think a feeling that perhaps something about our culture is directly under threat, that sense of who we are and this is a problem.'
He added: 'Access to a GP is pretty much impossible at short notice, and housing has become for most young people simply an unobtainable dream - and rents are up by 20-30 per cent across the country in the last four years.
'It's a simple demand-supply equation and that's why I've said from the start, this really should be the immigration election.'
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage received cheers and applause from his rally in County Durham when he discussed small boats crossing the Channel, stating 'if it's not an invasion, what the hell is it?'
He said: 'As for the small boats, well, it was me going out into the English Channel repeatedly in the spring of 2020 filming, explaining that unless we got a grip on this, that it would be a huge problem.
'And I dared to use a word, a word so repulsive that it must never be repeated in polite society. A word so awful that I'm to be a pariah for the rest of my life.
'I dared to say that I feared there would be an invasion of small boats across the English Channel. Well now - 4,000 boats and 128,000 people later - if it's not an invasion, what the hell is it?'
Earlier, Mr Farage referenced former prime minister Theresa May, saying: 'We won the European elections we got rid of the useless Mrs May which was a good scalp I can tell you. One of the most useless prime ministers of modern times, although there is fierce competition.'