Tory defectors ‘were never Conservatives to begin with’, Badenoch claims
Former Conservatives who have joined Reform UK were “never Conservatives to begin with”, Kemi Badenoch has said.
The Tory leader made the claim following the latest defection – former Conservative Party chairman Jake Berry, who announced he was joining Nigel Farage’s political party on Wednesday night.
Sir Jake said his former Conservative colleagues had “lost their way” as he revealed the move.
Mrs Badenoch was asked by the PA news agency about the defection – the latest in a string of such moves – as she visited Stansted Airport on Friday.
“These are former MPs who do not like the direction the party is going, because we are becoming more Conservative,” she said.
Welfare
Comparing her platform and Reform UK’s, Mrs Badenoch said: “I have said that we’ve got to bring the welfare budget down, Nigel Farage is talking about more and more welfare.
“I have said that we need to live within our means, Nigel Farage wants to spend billions on nationalisation.”
She added: “So if there are people who call themselves Conservatives, who like that policy platform, my view is that they were never Conservatives to begin with.
“We need to be the authentic, centre-right Conservative Party, and if people don’t like personal responsibility, living within our means, strong borders and making sure that we don’t bankrupt ourselves on net zero, then we don’t mind if they go to Nigel Farage’s party.”
Sir Jake was the latest in a line of Tory defectors, joining former Wales secretary David Jones, former minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns and others in jumping ship to Reform.
Several Welsh conservative councillors have also defected to Nigel Farage’s party.
Questions
The defections have raised questions over whether politicians on the right regard Mr Farage’s party as a better bet for election than the Conservatives.
Earlier in the week, Mrs Badenoch accused those leaving her party of behaving “like they do in banana republics”.
On Thursday, she said politicians such as Sir Jake had “probably been holding us back for a long time” and were “welcome” to leave.
The Tory leader 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.”
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She could prove her conservative credentials to the doubters by committing to privatise roads.
Because so many other privatisations have gone so well…….
Oh wait!?
The fact that she won’t is indeed a tacit admission of its complete and utter failure but until she can bring herself to say openly and honestly that Thatcherism was a disaster the Cons will never recover.
Tory defectors ‘were never Conservatives to begin with’. Oh yes they were. The dissolving fag paper between the anti human cess pit hate mobs is simply about the speed at which they out themselves with the Tories on their stealthy journey to the downfall of humanity and the Reform version of blowing it all open now. If there is anything we can thank Reform for it is fully exposing what the Tories have always been about since their inception.
So the Tories are no longer Conservative, Labour are no longer Socialist and Reform are not really on the side of ordinary people.
It’s all a bit Emperor’s new clothes isn’t it? Or how about the new Smoke and Mirrors Party?
Berry was a truss fanatic. Not sure what Kemi is to the cons apart for a conduit from Herr Trumps orders.
Hahahahahah! Isn’t it great seeing the right wingers tear chunks out of each other?
I guess that bitter personal dislikes have taken over from any semblance of ideology among the rabble.