Reform is not rescue charity for panicky Tory MPs, Farage says

Reform UK will not be represented by Nigel Farage, who has said that it will not become the Conservative Party 2. Following Tory Robert Jenrick's defection, the board has been 0-1. Reform

is not a rescue fund for every tumultuous Tory MP,

the party's leader said in the Telegraph, and any potential defectors would have to be able to acknowledge that the previous Conservative government broke the country. Jenrick wasa great new asset" who had ministerial expertise, according to Reform's deputy leader Richard Tice, who appeared on the BBC. However, with about 20 former Conservative MPs joining the party in recent months, analysts have argued that reform is now a home for failed Tories rather than a new force in British politics.

After municipal elections were held on May 7, Farage has said that his party would not accept any more defectors.

Any Conservative MP who remains clings to the belief that their party will recover and avoids the sinking ship does not know how quickly life in the United States is changing.

He wrote in the Telegraph.

Trying to use reform as a lifeboat to save their own political skins will not wash. We have no interest in rescuing political failures. Any defectors would have to contribute some money to the party, according to him, and

fully believe in Reform's fundamental values of family, neighborhood, and country. Any other MPs may defy, according to senior Conservatives, although they are not expecting a big wave of departures imminently.

Reform has also announced that a well-known Labour figure will defect to the party next week. Baroness Kate Hoey, a Labour MP and Brexit caMPaigner who has served as a non-affiliated peer since 2020, has been among those suspected of being a potential defector. Tice, who was inactive for Farage due to sickness, told the BBC's Sunday that Baroness Hoey was a wonderful person and a good friend but refused to announce whether she would leave. Baroness Hoey hasn't confirmed whether she wants to defect or not, but told Sky News that she has not been a Labour activist for more than eight years and is

not sure I'm that well-known. Senior Tory defectors, according to some commentators, may lead to power struggles within Reform, with Jenrick portrayed as a potential shadow chancellor, alongside Tice and Reform's head of policy Zia Yusuf. Tice said the party had

a broad range of talentand Farage wouldmake his decision about different roles at the appropriate time," when asked if he'd be keen to see Jenrick as shadow chancellor.

Jenrick joined Reform on Thursday, just hours after being kicked from the Conservative shadow cabinet for plotting to defect. Jenrick, a former immigrant, housing, and health minister, has worked with the government to reform. However, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said:

Bringing in Robert Jenrick, who presides over the demise of the criminal justice system in this region, is like asking out the arsonists to put out the fire. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, has said that his party is stronger and more united since Jenrick's departure, claiming that he is not

a team player.