Nigel Farage unveils Suella Braverman as new Reform UK defector

Appearing alongside Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, the Fareham & Waterlooville MP thanked veterans and their "vast contributions" to British society.

Mrs Braverman, who served as Home Secretary under the Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak Governments, announced on the Reform stage she had put 30 years of Conservative Party membership behind her.

She told attendees of the event: “I resigned the Conservative whip and my party membership, my party membership of 30 years. It’s gone. It’s over today.”

Continuing with an attack on her former colleagues, Mrs Braverman 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.

“Britain is indeed broken. She is suffering. She is not well, immigration is out of control, our public services are on their knees, people don’t feel safe, our youngsters are leaving the country for better futures elsewhere.

“We can’t even defend ourselves, and our nation stands weak and humiliated on the world stage. So we stand at a crossroads.

“We can either continue down this route of managed decline to weakness and surrender or we can fix our country, reclaim our power, rediscover our strength.”

Confirming her defection would not trigger a by-election, she added: “I haven’t taken this decision lightly, and I know there’ll be some people, particularly in Fareham and Waterlooville Conservatives, who will feel sad and disappointed by this. I will explain my reasons in full later on today.”

Responding to her defection, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “It was always a matter of when, not if, Suella would defect.”

The spokesman went on to say Mrs Braverman had been “clearly very unhappy” but the party did “all it could to look after Suella’s mental health”.

“There are some people who are MPs because they care about their communities and want to deliver a better country,” the spokesman continued, “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. They really are doing our ‘Spring cleaning'!

“As always happens with Reform, they unveil defections just when the Labour Government is tearing itself to pieces, Rayner, Mandelson, now Burnham.

“Reform are too busy opposing the Conservatives to hold the Labour Government to account.

“The Conservative Party is now the only party that believes in smaller Government, less welfare and Britain living within its means, and has the team and the experience to get Britain working again.”

However, within half an hour, the party issued a correction to the statement and withdrew references to the former Home Secretary’s mental health, which had been criticised by a number of people across the political spectrum.

Lord Jackson, a Tory peer, wrote on X that the party had lost “another few thousand votes” by issuing the “nasty and unpleasant statement”.

Josh Fenton-Glynn, a Labour MP, said: “This statement is horrible. Attacking someone on mental health is wrong.”

Echoing Lord Jackson’s comments, a Reform UK source told the Telegraph: “It’s gutter politics, a sign of what the Conservative Party has become.”

Reform UK has so far secured defections from five ex-Tory MPs since Lee Anderson crossed the floor ahead of the 2024 General Election.

Danny Kruger switched to Reform UK shortly before the Tory Party Conference in September.

Ex-Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick and former Shadow Foreign Minister Andrew Rosindell also joined Reform UK earlier this year.