Councillor explains switch to Reform on day of defections as he lands parting shot at Tories: ‘The game is up!’

Speaking to GB News presenter Nana Akua, councillor Robbie Lammas explained: "What's clear is that the trust has just gone with the Conservative Party."

"People don't want to hear the message. And as good or bad as the speech may be, when they're not being receptive, you know the game is up."

The Medway councillor is the latest to join Kent County Council's Reform majority in the south east, having booted the Conservatives out of their former heartlands.

"What they are telling me here in Medway, where I've just defected to Reform, is that they trust Nigel Farage because he's been consistent forever on the key issues.

Pointing out that Nigel Farage "hasn't really got the experience that some of the others have", Nana said that Mr Jenrick has experience of being in power.

Rebutting the GB News star's argument, Mr Lammas said: "The first thing is that you can do a lot of things before you know any better. That's certainly true in Government.

"And Tony Blair, when he came in from opposition without any prior ministerial experience, certainly was effective in getting his policy agenda through," he said, quickly adding: "Not that I agree with it, of course."

His third argument came from dubbing Nigel Farage "very much a team player", citing particularly prominent defections, including former Tory minister Danny Kruger.

On the matter of a potential pact between the Conservatives and Reform UK - something with has been firmly slammed by leaders Kemi Badenoch and Mr Farage in the past - the councillor toed the party line.

"It wouldn't be me to consider anything like that," the new Reform councillor said. "Certainly locally people are all behind Reform. They don't see the Conservatives locally here in Kent as tough enough on the issues of the day.

"Reform ask the questions that need to be answered, and they are on the side of ordinary people."

As of Tuesday, Reform has more than 900 councillors across Britain.

However, mounting concerns have recently risen to the surface, including the potential of Tories "diluting" Reform's message by turning the party into the "Conservative Party 2.0", as Nana aptly described.

In response, Mr Lammas was quick to oppose the idea, lauding his party's ability to "check people out" with the correct questions. "That's something that I find really refreshing," he added.

On the penultimate day of their Conference, the Tories have been rocked by a deluge of defections as Reform UK secured more than a dozen new councillors in just one day.

Nigel Farage's party introduced a hefty batch of councillors to their ranks this morning alone across more than a dozen separate councils.

The new Reform councillors will join their victorious party colleagues after a turquoise tidal wave swept across Britain at the Local Elections on May 1.

Since then, 228 councillors have been added to their army of councillors through a series of by-elections and defections.