Shock Move: Suella Braverman Defects to Reform UK
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman defects to Reform UK, becoming the third Tory MP to leave the party amid rising political turmoil in Britain.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has become the latest Conservative MP to join Reform UK.
She is the third sitting Tory MP to defect to Nigel Farage's party in the last eleven days, bringing Reform's total number of MPs to eight.
Speaking at a rally in London, Braverman told Reform supporters that she had also resigned her 30-year Tory membership, saying: "I feel like I've come home."
Her defection follows those of Robert Jenrick and Andrew Rosindell, who left the Conservative Party earlier this month.
A leading figure on the right wing of the party in the previous government, Braverman had long been seen in Westminster as a likely defector to Reform.
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But her announcement as Reform's newest member came as a surprise during an event in London where Farage was launching a party group for military veterans.
An MP since 2015, Braverman served as Attorney General under Boris Johnson and became Home Secretary under Liz Truss in September 2022.
She was forced to resign from the post a month later after it emerged she had sent an official document to a Tory colleague using her personal email.
Rishi Sunak reappointed her to the role just six days after entering Downing Street, but sacked her the following year over an article in which she accused the Metropolitan Police of bias in its policing of pro-Palestinian protests in London.
Speaking at the Reform rally, Braverman told supporters that Britain was "broken" and that immigration was "out of control".
"We can either continue down this path of weakness and surrender. Or we can fix our country, take back our power, rediscover our strength," she told the crowd. The Conservative Party said it was "always a question of when Suella would leave the party, not if," and added that she was "clearly very unhappy."
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"Some people are MPs because they care about their communities and want to build a better country. Others do it for personal ambition," a spokesperson said. "Suella stood for the Conservative Party leadership in 2022 and came sixth, behind Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat. In 2024, she couldn't even muster enough support to get on the ballot.
"Now she has decided to try her luck with Nigel Farage, who said last year that he didn't want her in the Reform Party."
In addition to the four current Conservative MPs who have now joined the Reform Party, around 20 former Tory MPs have also made the move since the general election, including former ministers Nadhim Zahawi, Nadine Dorries, and Jake Berry.
Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds said: "Nigel Farage is filling his party with failed Tory politicians who are responsible for the chaos and decline that has held Britain back for 14 years."
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: "Farage has recruited another Conservative minister with selective amnesia – someone who complains about a broken Britain while conveniently forgetting that she helped break it."
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