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There is no way to sugar coat this for Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch! The defection of former Conservative Home Secretary Suella Braverman to Reform UK is a massive blow to her ever sinking Party.
Suella becomes the third sitting Conservative MP to join Nigel Farage’s party in just eleven days thus boosting its Westminster total to eight MPs. Unveiled at a Reform rally in London, Braverman said that she had resigned her 30‑year Conservative Party membership and told supporters she “felt like I’ve come home,” declaring that Britain was “broken” and immigration “out of control.”
That’s unambiguous and damning in equal measure.
Braverman has been MP for Fareham since 2015, and was seen a central figure on the Conservative right. She served as attorney general under Boris Johnson and was appointed home secretary by Liz Truss in 2022, but resigned weeks later after sending an official document from her personal email. Rishi Sunak re‑appointed her shortly after becoming prime minister, before sacking her the following year over a newspaper article accusing the Metropolitan Police of bias in handling pro‑Palestinian protests. She was right btw!
Farage told reporters he had been talking to Braverman about defecting for more than a year and said she had concluded that the “centre‑right of British politics needs to unify around Reform.” Interestingly, he argued her record at the Home Office had been “utterly useless,” blaming constraints from the European Convention on Human Rights, but said she was now willing to admit “we got it wrong.” Boom!
The Conservatives have responded to this be claiming that it was “always a matter of when, not if, Suella would defect,” accusing her of acting out of personal ambition. I think that smacks of Conservative hubris. The truth here is that a centre right politician cannot exist within the Conservative Party any longer.
A party spokesman highlighted her failed 2022 leadership bid and claim that she could not secure enough backers to get on the ballot in 2024, saying she was now “trying her luck with Nigel Farage.”
Braverman now joins fellow ex‑Conservative MPs Robert Jenrick and Andrew Rosindell, along with around 20 former Conservative MPs, who have switched to Reform since the general election. Whilst some of these are no-names and a few like Zahawi are poor, there’s no denying the real quality Braverman brings!
Predictably, Labour and the Liberal Dems have mocked Farage for filling his ranks with “failed Tories,” arguing that those now criticising the state of the country bear direct responsibility for 14 years of Conservative government. There is some truth in this. However, few fair minded people would deny that Jenrick and Braverman are real assets to Reform. Whether or not they can all work together is the next challenge!
