Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has warned Kemi Badenoch not to make a deal with Reform UK in an unprecedented intervention into British politics.
Ms Meloni, said to be a close friend of the Tory leader, urged her to "be your own woman and stand your ground" against Nigel Farage's surging party.
The two leaders met on Monday for an hour-long coffee date in Rome and discussed issues including the economy and migration.
During the get-together, Ms Meloni told Mrs Badenoch "you've got to be yourself" and to resist deals - despite the Tories' dire polling.
The latest YouGov data saw the Conservatives fall two percentage points to 19 per cent - with Reform UK at the top with 24 per cent.
And while Reform is no longer at its peak of polling north of 30 per cent, its rise has still led to calls from Conservative MPs to unite the right of British politics.
Ms Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI) also faces a challenge from upstart right-wing party National Future (FN) led by Roberto Vannacci, a former general.
While FN is polling at just seven per cent, it has rapidly risen in the eyes of the Italian public - more than doubling its three per cent rating from February, according to Politico's aggregate polling.
Ms Meloni's party, meanwhile, has fallen three per cent over the same period, from 30 per cent to 27 per cent.
But she has already ruled out any form of coalition with Mr Vannacci, describing him as the left's "useful idiot".
And she has told Mrs Badenoch to follow in her footsteps, The Times revealed last night.
The Conservative leader, who previously said she was "WhatsApp buddies" with Ms Meloni, told the Italian Prime Minister she hopes to emulate her economic success.
They discussed the need to stop wealthy people leaving their two countries because they "create jobs and grow the economy".
Ms Meloni, who has led Italy since 2022, is set to become the longest-serving head of government in the 80-year history of the Italian Republic.
CONSERVATIVES VS REFORM - READ MORE:
- ‘Obsessed with me!’ Robert Jenrick hits back at Kemi Badenoch after Tory leader slammed Reform MPs
- Kemi Badenoch tells 'failed' ex-Tory MPs to join Reform UK in dig at Nigel Farage's defectors
- Kemi Badenoch launches fresh attack on 'scared' Nigel Farage after resignation: 'FAKE by-election!'
She told the Tory leader she too had been written off, with her now-declining party never expected to win an election - while Italy had never had a female leader before.
Mrs Badenoch said Britons were used to having women in charge, like Margaret Thatcher, over whom the duo had previously bonded.
Over coffee, the two also discussed the controversial European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which Mrs Badenoch has pledged to leave if the Conservatives come to power - while Ms Meloni has only said it needs reform.
Reform UK has also pledged to leave the ECHR, but leader Nigel Farage has shot down talks of a coalition with the Tories, warning that deals were about trust and he did "not trust the Conservatives".
In response, Mrs Badenoch claimed "Nigel Farage dictates what he wants depending on what he had for breakfast that day".
She has also said she could not work with a politician who had “fallen out with every single person he has ever had to work with”.
Mrs Badenoch said there would be “no deals before or after” the next election, stressing that her priority was to build a Conservative Government, rather than unite the right.
“It is not about uniting the right, it is about uniting our country,” she said.
The sparks of an alternative right-wing alliance between Reform and Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain party fizzled out weeks ago after an olive branch from the latter to the former in the wake of a "Burnham bounce" amounted to no deal being struck.
Mr Lowe has enjoyed one of the Conservatives' reserved seats on the influential House of Commons Public Accounts Committee since October last year.
Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter
