Tory Party Chairman Kevin Hollinrake has finally apologised after comparing Reform UK to the Nazi Party in a social media post.

In an appearance on GB News Breakfast, Mr Hollinrake was grilled by hosts Ellie Costello and Stephen Dixon, with the Tory Chairman admitting it was an “error of judgement”.

Pressed by Ellie on the comparison, she asked him: “Is that really what you think of Reform UK voters?”

Mr Hollinrake responded: “No, I wasn’t saying that at all, that was just how some people misinterpreted it. I was merely saying it’s an error of judgement, it was a lighthearted comment.

“It was not about Reform UK, it was about Nigel Farage’s judgement, his taste, and I thought it was probably an error of judgement, that’s the point I was making. And it was conflated and taken out of all context by some of the people, that’s all.”

Asked by Stephen if he believes it is “worth apologising” for the tweet, Mr Hollinrake made clear: “Well, it was never meant to be taken like that.

“It was never said, there was no comment attached to it, it was just a kind of raised eyebrows comment.”

Interjecting the Tory Chairman, Ellie stated: “I think comparing it to the Nazis is a slur, is it not? And it’s been described as lazy, it’s been described as weak.”

The Tory Chairman hit back: “Described by who though? That’s the thing, you’ve got politics involved here. Some people use it for their own purposes.

“That’s not what I was saying at all, and many people have said that that’s not what I was saying at all. But I understand that politics sometimes gets in the way of this, and people use it for their own ends.”

Swiping at Mr Hollinrake’s dismissal of an apology, Stephen told the Tory Chairman: “I’m just slightly intrigued by the fact that when you said, in relation to the elections, that the Government needs to hold the elections and take it on the chin.

“I wonder if with this incident, you can stick to your line of saying it’s not how you meant it, but perhaps you need to take it on the chin and say, yeah, it wasn’t the right thing to do?”

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Mr Hollinrake told GB News: “Maybe you can argue that, Stephen. It’s not something I do every day, but if people have taken offence by it, of course, I didn’t mean to offend any reasonable Reform voter.

“And many people, I can understand why they vote Reform, because they’ve lost trust in other parties. We’re trying to rebuild that trust under a strong leader, but if people are taking offence by it I apologise for any offence I have given, of course.

“But that’s not the spirit it was meant in, and certainly many people that are currently planning to vote Reform or voting Reform in the past, I have great deal of respect for. But there’s no way in the world I was calling those people what’s being said I was calling them.”

Questioned on the possible Reform-Tory merger ahead of the next election, the Tory Chairman fiercely denied one would ever take place.

Mr Hollinrake said: “Absolutely not, our position is very clear, and Reform, they’re a one man band. They’re all over the place on policy, they are very left-wing on the economy. That’s not the kind of politics or policies we would adopt.

“We’ve got a long distance to travel, we’ve got a great leader who’s got the strength this country needs, we’ve got a clear plan in terms of being able to reduce spending and reduce the size of the state by reforming welfare and cutting the size of the civil service, sharing the proceeds of that with a reduction in our deficit, a reduction in the amount of debt we’re accumulating.

“But also cutting some key taxes in terms of things like stamp duty on your own home and business rates for those hospitality venues and shops that are struggling in our high streets.”

He concluded: “That’s what we want to do. We’ve got a clear plan, I’m afraid Reform don’t have any such plans in place. Any plans they do have seem to be copying our plans. So no, that’s not where we’re going, we’re fighting a long battle which will take us all the way through to 2029, which we have every expectation of winning.”