Suella Braverman joins Adam Cherry on the Guido Fawkes Show for an exclusive (and explosive) interview:
💥 Starmer should RESIGN over Mandelson
💥 The tipping point that caused her to pick up the phone to Farage
💥 Why the Home Office should be SCRAPPED
Watch the full episode on YouTube by clicking here…
Suella Braverman is with Nigel Farage in Westminster to face questions from journalists after she defected to Reform earlier today. Expect questions over a by-election, her role in the party, and the Tories’ borked response…
Read Suella’s speech in full below:
Continue reading “LIVE: Farage and Braverman Host Post-Defection Press Conference”
There’s two ways to view the constant stream of Tory defections to Reform that have shaken the first month of politics in 2026. Some said it would be a quiet start to the year…
If you take the Tory HQ view, all of this is – in Badenoch’s words – “spring cleaning”. The sharp tactical execution of the Jenrick defection – heading him off and surely lessening its impact – has spiked the guns of her harshest critics. After all – this train of thought goes – the Tories are better off without these traitorous defectors in the first place. And that is the conventional way of thinking about it. With them out of the party, Kemi, it is said, stands a better chance at reinvention and making more progress…
There’s another way of looking at it: that the defectors from the right of the Tory party this year are not “swivel-eyed loons”, but some of its most high-impact operators. Indeed, Jenrick was the most active and popular frontbencher. Braverman was the most popular backbencher. Zahawi is well connected and a good organiser. These are big beasts, not councillors – though many hundreds of hard working Tory councillors are in fact defecting to Reform constantly…
There are a number of factors that will decide between these paths. The first is the performance at the local elections – if Reform undershoot, the Tory arguments will be bolstered. The second is the success of activist centrist groups who are openly trying take control of the Tory party and move it deliberately to the centre – a sort of internal coup which the leadership has criticised – but also underestimated. The third is random events. Nigel has set a deadline for defectors in the Commons of May 7th…
For now, the remaining right-wingers in the parliamentary party are being watched carefully (some of the biggest fish, like Rees-Mogg, are not MPs). Hayes, McVey, Morrissey, Rankin – you could list the names, but they all say they are not moving. That’s what all the other defectors said…
The Tories have withdrawn their “mental health” jibe at Suella Braverman following her defection to Reform this morning. They blame a “draft version” of the release having been “sent out in error earlier.” Right…
Compare and contrast. Before…
“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. 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.”
After…
“It was always a matter of when, not if, Suella would defect. 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.”
It took around 3 hours to correct that “error”…
Fair to say Suella Braverman’s defection to Reform is no surprise at all to anyone in Westminster. It’s been coming for so long it’s hardly even a story now…
What will make waves however is the Tories’ punchy response to the defection, which swipes at Braverman’s “mental health” – one of those decisions that could come back to bite. Regardless of the non-story response expected from Westminster insiders, the fact is that among Tory members Braverman remained the most popular – recently polled as backbencher of the year by Tory bible ConHome. Kicking her on the way out may make Tory high command feel better, but it’s not likely to go down well with members…
UPDATE: Former Tory MP and Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans says Tories should “withdraw that statement immediately, I think it’s appalling… it’s better to say nothing than to say something like that.”
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has defected to Reform:
“Today I am announcing that I resign the Conservative whip and my party membership of thirty years, and because I believe with my heart and soul that a better future is possible for us, I am joining Reform UK.”
Their eighth MP…
UPDATE: A Tory spokesman:
“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. 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.
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. 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.”
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”
