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Suella Braverman, the former Conservative home secretary, has defected to Reform UK, becoming the latest high-profile Tory to jump to Nigel Farage’s insurgent populist party.
The move was met with a furious response from the Conservative Party, which initially made claims about Braverman’s “mental health” before withdrawing the comment, in a sign the party feels it is in a fight for survival as Reform UK attempts to replace it on the right of UK politics.
Braverman, who has long been a controversial figure with strong rightwing views within the Conservatives, said she was joining Reform as she believed the Tories had “utterly failed to do the right thing for the British people” when in government.
“Because I believe with my heart and soul that a better future is possible for us, I am joining Reform UK,” the former cabinet minister said.
While Braverman’s defection has long been rumoured, it still marks a significant coup for Farage as he attempts to chip away at the Conservatives’ foundations in parliament.
The move follows the defection of Robert Jenrick two weeks ago, who was fired as shadow justice secretary after his plan to join Reform was uncovered. He was shortly followed by Romford MP Andrew Rosindell. Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi also defected to Reform earlier this month.
Farage has encouraged more MPs to defect, setting a deadline of early May in an attempt to trigger a wave of losses for the Conservatives.
Reform’s brand of anti-immigration populism has propelled it to the top of the polls after Labour’s popularity slumped shortly after Sir Keir Starmer took office.
Many voters are not yet prepared to turn back to the Conservatives after the party’s 14 years in power from 2010 to 2024, with Farage running on a mantra that “Britain is broken” and that it is the established parties’ fault.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has attempted to launch a rearguard action, with her attacks on Reform increasing in ferocity in recent weeks amid warnings to other MPs considering defection that she will not tolerate the distraction of “psychodrama and intrigue”.
On Monday, the Conservative Party responded to Braverman’s defection with a highly personal attack, with a spokesperson saying: “It was always a matter of when, not if, Suella would defect. The Conservatives did all we could to look after Suella’s mental health, but she was clearly very unhappy.”
The party later sent a revised statement with the mental health comment removed, saying it was a “draft” that had been “sent out in error”.
It also pointedly highlighted Braverman’s failures in Conservative leadership elections, saying that in 2024 “she could not even muster enough supporters to get on the ballot”.
The party added: “She has now decided to try her luck with Nigel Farage, who said last year he didn’t want her in Reform — they really are doing our ‘Spring cleaning’!
Braverman’s defection, which was announced at a Reform rally for military veterans on Monday, means Reform now has eight MPs, doubling their number from last summer.
Farage was buoyant immediately after the announcement, stepping offstage to give Reform’s newest figure a moment alone in the limelight.
“She’s obviously thought long and hard about it, but, like many Tory MPs, she’s come to the conclusion that the Conservatives are disintegrating,” he told the FT.
Farage later said he had been talking to Braverman “on and off” for just over a year and claimed she was the most popular Tory MP among members of the Conservatives.
He sidestepped reports that he had previously criticised her, saying that if he had been a Conservative MP, he would have wanted her to become leader of the party.
He added that Braverman was “now prepared to put her hands up and say we got it wrong, and that’s the first criteria”.
Farage has set a deadline of May 7 — the date of key elections across England, Wales and Scotland — for other Conservative MPs who wish to defect.
Reform is still vulnerable to criticism that it is collecting disaffected Conservatives when much of its appeal to voters has been that it offers a break from the past.
Farage was asked on Monday whether former prime minister Liz Truss could join Reform, given his party now has an equal number of members of her cabinet in her ranks as Badenoch has in her shadow cabinet.
Farage suggested Truss — who has been in the political wilderness since her disastrous 49 days as prime minister — would not be joining Reform but emphasised that he had not said she was not welcome.
“I didn’t say that. I said it was unlikely,” Farage said.