Nigel Farage has asserted that Reform UK will not evolve into a “Conservative Party 2.0” following the defection of former senior Conservative figure Robert Jenrick.
The party leader stated in the Telegraph that Reform is “not a rescue charity for every panicky Tory MP,” adding that any prospective defectors would need to publicly acknowledge that the previous Conservative government “broke the country.”
Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, told the BBC that Jenrick represents “a great new asset” due to his ministerial experience.
However, with approximately 20 former Conservative MPs having joined the party in recent months, critics contend that Reform is becoming a haven for unsuccessful Conservatives rather than a novel force in British politics.
Farage has indicated that his party will not accept any further defectors after the local elections scheduled for May 7.
“Any Conservative MP who still clings to the hope that their party can recover and waits until May 8 to try to leave the sinking ship does not understand how rapidly things are changing out in the country,” he wrote in the Telegraph.
“Trying to use Reform as a lifeboat to save their own political skins will not wash. We have no interest in rescuing political failures.”
He stipulated that any defectors must bring discernible benefits to the party and “truly believe in Reform’s fundamental values of family, community and country.”
Senior Conservatives believe that additional MPs may also defect, although they do not anticipate a significant wave of departures in the immediate future.
Reform has also announced that a “well-known Labour figure” is expected to defect to the party next week.
Former Labour MP and Brexit campaigner Baroness Kate Hoey, who has served as a non-affiliated peer since 2020, is among those rumored as a potential defector.
When questioned about the possibility of Baroness Hoey joining Reform, Tice – standing in for Farage due to illness – told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg program that Baroness Hoey was “a wonderful person” and “a good friend” but refrained from confirming whether she would defect.
Baroness Hoey has not commented on whether she intends to defect, but told Sky News she had not been a Labour member for more than eight years and was “not sure I’m that well-known”.
Some commentators have posited that senior Tory defectors could incite power struggles within Reform, with Jenrick being considered as a possible shadow chancellor, alongside Tice and Reform’s head of policy, Zia Yusuf.
When asked if he would welcome Jenrick as shadow chancellor, Tice stated that the party possesses “a great range of talent” and that Farage would “make his decision about different roles at the appropriate time.”
Jenrick joined Reform on Thursday, shortly after being dismissed from the Conservative shadow cabinet for allegedly plotting to defect.
As a former immigration, housing, and health minister, Jenrick brings governmental experience to Reform.
However, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy remarked: “Bringing in Robert Jenrick, who presided over soaring NHS waiting lists and the collapse of the criminal justice system in this country, to solve the problems this country faces is like calling out the arsonists to put out the fire.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has asserted that her party is stronger and more united since Jenrick’s departure, characterizing him as not “a team player.”
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