Suella Braverman defects to Reform UK
Former home secretary Suella Braverman has left the Conservative Party and joined Reform UK, becoming the latest Tory MP to cross the floor as Nigel Farage’s party builds momentum in Westminster.
Farage revealed the move at a rally for party activists in central London, where Braverman confirmed she had ended her 30-year membership of the Conservatives. Speaking to supporters, she said: "I feel like I've come home."
Braverman is the third sitting Conservative MP to defect to Reform this month, following Robert Jenrick and Andrew Rosindell, and the fourth since the 2024 general election. Her arrival takes Reform’s total number of MPs to eight.
An MP since 2015, Braverman has held several senior roles in government. She served as attorney general under Boris Johnson and became home secretary under Liz Truss in September 2022. She was forced out of that job a month later after sending an official document via her personal email, but returned to the role days later when Rishi Sunak entered Downing Street.
Her second stint ended the following year after she wrote an article accusing the Metropolitan Police of bias over the policing of pro-Palestinian protests in London, which led to her dismissal from cabinet.
Explaining her decision to join Reform, Braverman delivered a fierce assessment of the country’s direction. She told the crowd: "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. 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."
Reform figures have described Braverman’s move as a major win, with Farage keen to bring more former ministers into the party as it expands its parliamentary presence.
The defection has sparked sharp criticism from Labour and the Liberal Democrats, who argue that Reform is filling its ranks with politicians that they blame for years of Conservative rule. Both parties accused Braverman of playing a central role in the failures she now condemns.
For Reform, however, the message is clear: the party is positioning itself as the main destination for Conservatives on the right who believe their party no longer delivers on its promises.
