Former Tory home secretary Suella Braverman defects to Reform

Controversial former home secretary Suella Braverman has become the latest ex-Tory right-winger to defect to Nigel Farage’s Reform.

After months of speculation, Ms Braverman, who was sacked as home secretary by Rishi Sunak and forced to resign from the same role by Liz Truss, joined her ally Robert Jenrick in switching parties.

She was unveiled on Monday at a Reform rally for veterans in London as the party’s eighth sitting MP, having been a rare visitor to parliament in the last few months.

Labour said the defection proved Mr Farage is “stuffing his party full of the failed Tories”, while the Tories said the move to Reform UK was always a matter of “when, not if”.

Ms Braverman, who once ran for the leadership of the Conservative Party and was a major supporter of Brexit, said: “Today I am announcing that I am resigning the Conservative whip and my party membership of 30 years. And because I believe with my heart and soul that a better future is possible for us, I am joining Reform UK.”

Telling the crowd that she felt like she had “come home”, the former home secretary went on to issue a series of attacks on the Conservative Party and the government, reiterating the Reform claim that “Britain is indeed broken”.

“Immigration is out of control. Our public services are on their knees. People don’t feel safe,” she said, without backing up the claims.

Ms Braverman, the MP for Fareham and Waterlooville, was a controversial home secretary under Ms Truss and Mr Sunak in the midst of the small boats crisis, where she was criticised for her language about migrants, describing them as “invaders”.

She was sacked from Mr Sunak’s cabinet in November 2023, when she was accused of inciting violent protests by far-right thugs at the Cenotaph after accusing the Metropolitan Police of bias in their handling of the pro-Palestine protests.

She also made a failed leadership bid in 2022 following Boris Johnson’s departure. By the time of the 2024 election humiliation for the Tories, her former allies had switched support to Mr Jenrick for his leadership bid, which saw him defeated by Kemi Badenoch.

After being welcomed to the stage by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, Ms Braverman told the crowd that Mr Farage was the only man in UK politics who has been “courageously consistent”.

But two years ago, when she was home secretary, Ms Farage had described Ms Braverman as “absolutely pathetic” on immigration and stopping the small boats.

When asked about his previous comments after Ms Braverman’s defection, Mr Farage told reporters on Monday: “Utterly useless as they all were. They all were utterly useless, because they were stuck within the ECHR. So she found herself in this bizarre position …. we were still stuck in the ECHR, which she opposed.

He added: “The government was a failure, but she’s now prepared to put her hands up and say, we got it wrong. And that’s the first criteria.”

Ms Braverman then called the Conservatives’ current promise to leave the ECHR “a lie”.

Turning to her former party, she accused the Conservatives of having “no backbone” and said she was “calling time on Tory betrayal”.

“When push comes to shove, they go awol. No courage, no backbone, no resolve,” she said.

“I’m calling time on Tory betrayal. I’m calling time on Tory lies. I’m calling time on a party that keeps making promises with zero intention of keeping them,” she added.

In a brutal statement which was later retracted with an apology, a Conservative Party spokesperson made a jibe about Ms Braverman’s “mental health”.

They said Ms Braverman was “trying her luck” by defecting to Reform, claiming that “the Conservatives did all we could to look after Suella’s mental health, but she was clearly very unhappy”.

They added: “She says she feels that she has ‘come home’, which will come as a surprise to the people who chose not to elect a Reform MP in her constituency in 2024.”

They continued: “There are some people who are MPs because they care about their communities and want to deliver a better country.

“There are others who do it for their personal ambition. Suella stood for leader of the Conservatives in 2022 and came sixth, behind Kemi and Tom Tugendhat.

“In 2024, she could not even muster enough supporters to get on the ballot. She has now decided to try her luck with Nigel Farage, who said last year he didn’t want her in Reform.”

Responding to the news of the defection, a senior Tory source said “nobody is particularly surprised”, while another added: “She was hardly in Westminster anyway, so no great loss.”

Meanwhile, Anna Turley, the Labour chair, said: “Nigel Farage is stuffing his party full of the failed Tories responsible for the chaos and decline that held Britain back for 14 years.

“Suella Braverman helped botch Brexit and got sacked as home secretary – her defection shows Farage is willing to accept the very worst of the Conservative Party and exposes his complete lack of judgement.”

Meanwhile, former Brexit minister Lord Frost sparked off new speculation that he could defect with a tweet supporting Ms Braverman and a picture of the two holding light-blue ice creams in the colour of Reform.

He said: “It was great to campaign with Suella back at the 2024 election. We’ve always seen things the same way.”

And speculation about rising star of the Tory right, Katie Lam, started up again, although she has denied she plans to defect.

Speculation had been rife about Ms Braverman joining Reform since her husband Rael became a member last year, but it cooled when the party’s former chair Zia Yusuf issued a series of very personal attacks against her, which saw Mr Braverman quit the party in protest.

Following Mr Jenrick’s sudden defection, Ms Braverman appeared on a watchlist of 11 Tory MPs who were suspected of mulling a move to Reform, with party sources telling The Independent they were “100 per cent certain” she would jump ship.

Mr Farage told reporters he had been talking to the former cabinet minister for “just over a year” about the possibility of defecting.