Suella Braverman defects to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK

LONDON — Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman defected to Reform UK Monday becoming the fourth sitting Tory MP to join Nigel Farage’s party since the last election.

Braverman, who served as the U.K.’s chief interior minister between 2022 and 2023, said:“I feel like I’ve come home.”

She told an audience of veterans at a Reform UK event in London she is “calling time on Tory betrayal,” adding Britain is “indeed broken.”

Speaking at a press conference on Monday evening, Farage said it is his mission to unite the center-right of British politics. “Today is another very significant step in that direction,” he added.

Braverman’s departure to the poll-topping Reform UK, which caught Westminster by surprise, is a blow to Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch ahead of crucial local elections across England and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales in May.

The Tories quickly rounded on their former colleague in highly personal terms — saying, without elaboration or evidence, that: “It was always a matter of when, not if, Suella would defect. The Conservatives did all we could to look after Suella’s mental health, but she was clearly very unhappy.”

The party retracted that statement around 90 minutes later after politicians from across the political spectrum hit back. Home Office Minister Mike Tapp said the attack was “below the standards we expect.” His Labour MP colleague John Fenton-Glynn branded the comments “horrible.” Tory peer Stewart Jackson said it was “nasty and unpleasant.”

A Reform official said: “It’s disgusting. There are plenty of decent Tory MPs who will disagree with Suella, but aren’t going to stand for that behavior. With each defection LOTO lashes out harder —it’s now out of control.”

At a press conference on Monday evening Farage described the Tory reaction to Braverman’s defection as “pretty abusive.”

The MP for Fareham and Waterlooville follows former Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick and veteran right-winger Andrew Rosindell in joining Farage’s populist force just this month. Danny Kruger moved over to Reform last September.

Braverman, who was a prominent figure on the Tory right, ran unsuccessfully to lead the Conservatives in 2022 after Boris Johnson’s resignation as prime minister. She was sacked as home secretary by ex-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in November 2023 over an article accusing the Metropolitan Police of bias in the policing of protests.

“We stand at a crossroads,” Braverman said in her defection speech. “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. I believe that a better Britain is possible,” she added.

Ahead of the last U.K. general election Braverman suggested Farage should be welcomed back into the Conservatives . Rejecting her overtures at the time, Farage said: “I do like her, I do admire her, but I’m afraid at the moment all marriage plans are off.”

Reform UK will now have eight MPs sitting in the House of Commons.

Chair of the ruling Labour Party Anna Turley accused Farage of “stuffing his party full of the failed Tories responsible for the chaos and decline that held Britain back for 14 years.”

Farage, who has repeatedly insisted Reform UK will not become the Conservative Party 2.0, said earlier this month he will not accept defections after local elections in May.

This developing story is being updated.