Reform Isn’t a Lifeboat for Panicked Tory MPs, Farage Warns
Nigel Farage warns Reform UK is not a Tory lifeboat, setting strict rules for defectors as UK politics shifts after May elections.
Nigel Farage has insisted that Reform UK will not become Conservative Party 2.0 after former senior Tory Robert Jenrick defected to the party.
Writing in the Telegraph, the party leader said Reform is "not a rescue charity for every panicking Tory MP" and that any potential defector would have to be prepared to publicly acknowledge that the previous Conservative government had "ruined the country".
However, with around 20 former Conservative MPs having joined the party in recent months, critics have argued that Reform is becoming a home for failed Tories rather than a new force in British politics.
Farage has said his party will not accept any more defectors after the local elections on May 7.
He wrote in the Telegraph: "Any Conservative MP who is still clinging to the hope that their party can recover and waits until May 8 to try and jump ship doesn’t understand how quickly things are changing in the country.
"Trying to use Reform as a lifeboat to save their political skin won’t work. We have no interest in rescuing political failures."
He added that any defector would have to bring some benefit to the party and "genuinely believe in Reform’s fundamental values of family, community and country".
Senior Conservatives believe that some other MPs may also defect, although they are not expecting a mass exodus anytime soon.
Reform has also said that a "well-known Labour figure" will be joining the party next week.
Former Labour MP and Brexit campaigner Baroness Kate Hoey, who has sat as a non-affiliated peer since 2020, is among those rumoured to be a potential defector. When asked if she might join Reform, Tice – who is standing in for Farage due to illness – told the Laura Kuenssberg programme that Baroness Hoey was "a wonderful person" and "a good friend," but declined to confirm whether or not she would be leaving the party.
Baroness Hoey has not said whether she plans to leave the party, but she has not been a Labour member for more than eight years and "I'm not sure I'm that well-known".
Software Services
Some commentators have suggested that the defection of a senior Tory could spark a power struggle within Reform, with Jenrick being tipped as a potential Shadow Chancellor alongside Tice and Reform's policy head, Zia Yusuf. When asked if he would be happy to see Jenrick as Shadow Chancellor, Tice said the party had "a lot of talent" and that Farage would "make his decision about different roles at the right time".
Jenrick joined the Reform Party on Thursday, just hours after being sacked from the Conservative shadow cabinet amid allegations of plotting to defect.
As a former immigration, housing and health minister, Jenrick brings government experience to the Reform Party.
However, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: "Bringing in Robert Jenrick, who presided over the increase in NHS waiting lists and the collapse of the criminal justice system in this country, to solve this country's problems is like calling in the arsonists to put out the fire."
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has claimed her party is stronger and more united since Jenrick's departure, saying he "wasn't a team player".
Thank you for reading this content.
Thank you for reading this content.
What's Your Reaction?
Like
0
Dislike
0
Love
0
Funny
0
Angry
0
Sad
0
Wow
0
