Kemi Badenoch told former Tory politicians thinking of defecting to Reform they are welcome to ‘jump ship’ and stop holding back her party today.
The opposition leader lashed out at ‘banana republic’ politicians trying to save their careers after Sir Jake Berry, the former Conservative Party chairman, became the latest ex-MP to join up with Nigel Farage.
The 46-year-old, who was a Tory MP for 14 years, claimed Mr Farage was ‘someone the country can actually trust’ and could arrest the nation’s ‘decline’.
He is the latest former minister to join Reform, following ex Welsh secretary David Jones last week.
But asked about the slew of minor former ministers dripping from the Tories to Reform today Mrs Badenoch said: ‘There are a lot of people who come into politics just to play the game of politics, and they will follow polls and defect wherever they can, like they do in banana republics, to wherever they think that they can win.’
After giving a speech about welfare reform she said the Tories were the only party that ‘wants people to live within their means’ – a jib as Mr Farage’s support for increasing benefits.
‘If people who want more welfare and higher taxes and more spend, they are very welcome to go to those parties that are offering that,’ she added.
‘But we are the Conservative Party, and if there are people who are not Conservatives, people who have probably been holding us back for a long time, then they should go to other parties that fit in with their values.’
The opposition leader lashed out at ‘banana republic’ politicians trying to save their careers after Sir Jake Berry, the former Conservative Party chairman, became the latest ex-MP to join up with Nigel Farage.
The 46-year-old, who was a Tory MP for 14 years, claimed Mr Farage was ‘someone the country can actually trust’ and could arrest the nation’s ‘decline’.
After giving a speech about welfare reform she said the Tories were the only party that ‘wants people to live within their means’ – a jib as Mr Farage’s support for increasing benefits.
Mrs Badenoch today ramped up her attacks on Reform, using her speech at the Centre for Social Justice to attack Mr Farage’s populist economic policies.
In a speech on welfare she accused him of being ‘Jeremy Corbyn with a pint and a cigarette … promising unaffordable giveaways with no plan to fix the system’.
Sir Jake, who was Conservative Party chairman during Liz Truss‘s short disastrous leadership, announced he was ditching his former colleagues a year after losing his seat at the general election.
‘For 14 of those years, I served as an MP. I even sat at the Cabinet table twice. I believed in it. I gave it everything. Because I believed politics could still make this country better,’ he said.
‘But let’s not kid ourselves. Britain is broken. It didn’t start with Labour. The Conservative governments I was part of share the blame….
‘If you were deliberately trying to wreck the country, you’d be hard-pressed to do a better job than the last two decades of Labour and Tory rule.’
But his decision prompted claims from Tory sources that he has had ‘more positions than the Karma Sutra’.
Sir Jake backed Remain before the 2016 referendum and was a loud supporter of Net Zero when in office as minister for levelling up, before backing ‘woman of action’ Ms Truss to replace Boris Johnson.
The local Conservative Party in his former Rossendale and Darwen seat hit out at his decision as ‘the culmination of a long drift’ away from the party.
In a statement it said: ‘The truth is that Jake never truly recovered from the downfall of Liz Truss – a prime minister whose brief and chaotic tenure he enthusiastically supported.’
In a speech on welfare Mrs Badenoch will accuse Mr Farage of being ‘Jeremy Corbyn with a pint and a cigarette … promising unaffordable giveaways with no plan to fix the system’.
He follows Lee Anderson, the MP for Ashfield, and Marco Longhi and Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the latter two of whom were also ejected from the Commons by voters at the general election.
Since his loss, Sir Jake has worked in broadcasting, hosting a show on Talk TV.
Before serving in Ms Truss’s government, he was a minister during both Boris Johnson and Theresa May’s premierships, with responsibilities focused on the Northern Powerhouse and levelling up.
Former Tory MP Mark Jenkinson tweeted: ‘Another Remainer joins the Brexit Party.’
Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said his defection made Reform look like a ‘Truss tribute act’.
‘Nigel Farage needs to immediately rule out Liz Truss joining Reform following the defection of yet another one of her mini-budget buddies,’ she said.
A Labour Party spokeswoman added: ‘Not content with taking advice from Liz Truss, Nigel Farage has now tempted her Tory Party Chairman into his ranks.
‘It’s clear Farage wants Liz Truss’s reckless economics, which crashed our economy and sent mortgages spiralling, to be Reform’s blueprint for Britain.’
Sir Jake backed Remain before the 2016 referendum and was a loud supporter of Net Zero when in office as minister for levelling up, before backing ‘woman of action’ Ms Truss to replace Boris Johnson .
