The Conservatives are reeling after Robert Jenrick’s surprise announcement to join Reform UK, but he is not the first to jump ship.
Jenrick was sacked as the shadow justice secretary after the Tory leadership uncovered his ‘secret plot’.
The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said his defection plan was designed to be ‘as damaging as possible’ to the party.
Jenrick, who competed against Badenoch in the Tory leadership race, accused the two main parties of being ‘rotten’ and ‘no longer fit for purpose.’ Despite the fanfare, Jenrick arrived late to his own defection party.
A long line of Tories have made the move before Jenrick – so many in fact that Nigel Farage had to insist that ‘we are not the Tory Party 2.0.’
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How many Tories have defected to Reform and who are they?
Here is a list of all the 21 current and former MPs who have left the Tories and gone to Reform.
- Robert Jenrick
- Nadhim Zahawi
- Ben Bradley
- Chris Green
- Lia Nici
- Jonathan Gullis
- Sarah Atherton
- Maria Caulfield
- Danny Kruger
- Nadine Dorries
- Adam Holloway
- Sir Jake Berry
- David Jones
- Anne Marie Morris
- Ross Thomson
- Alan Amos
- Marco Longhi
- Aidan Burley
- Andrea Jenkyns
- Lucy Allan
- Lee Anderson
Robert Jenrick
The Cambridge-educated Newark MP was first elected to Parliament in the 2014 by-election. Under Boris Johnson, he served as the Housing Secretary before being dismissed in September 2021.
He initially supported the UK remaining in the EU, but is thought to have changed his mind while working at the Home Office.
During his time as the immigration minister, Jenrick caused an uproar in 2023 when he ordered murals of Mickey Mouse and other cartoon characters welcoming child asylum seekers to be painted over.
Danny Kruger
Kruger, the MP for East Wiltshire who has been a backbencher in the Conservatives, jumped ship in September. He said the Conservative Party ‘is over’ and that Farage should be the next Prime Minister.
The 50-year-old evangelical Christian is a vocal opponent of assisted dying.
Lee Anderson
Anderson defected to Reform in March 2024, becoming the party’s first-ever MP.
His move was seen as a blow to then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Anderson, the MP for Ashfield, had been kicked out of the parliamentary Conservative Party after he refused to apologise for his unfounded allegations that London mayor Sadiq Khan was controlled by Islamists.
Nadhim Zahawi
Zahawi was the highest-profile Tory to make the move until Jenrick.
The former Conservative Chancellor announced his defection to Reform on Monday, saying that he believes that ‘he team that will deliver for this nation will be the team that Nigel will put together.’
Which other Tories could defect to Reform?
Other figures rumoured to be thinking about a move to Reform include Jacob Rees-Mogg, former Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
Rees-Mogg, who is no longer an MP, has attempted to keep a high profile with his own reality TV show and hosting on GB News.
How these defections affect both parties?
Alastair Jones, a political expert, said the biggest harm from a defection to any party is whether it triggers a wave of ensuing departures, which has not happened with any of the Tory to Reform defections.
‘What we have seen is a very gradual trickle, in most cases, of ex-Conservative MPs leaving the Conservative Party and joining Reform,’ he said. ‘Jenrick is by far, the most high-profile defection, but his star in the Conservative Party had been falling.’
The fact that Badenoch kicked Jenrick out before he defected watered down the harm it had on the Conservatives, Jones argued.
He said: ‘Kemi Badenoch is looking like a leader, and her sacking of Jenrick demonstrated the extent to which she has actually started to take control.
‘Jenrick’s defection has not been as positive for Reform or as negative for the Conservatives as it could have been because she was so swift in removing him. That assertiveness has emboldened a lot of Conservative people to stay within the party and to think she is turning a corner.’
Meanwhile, speculation is swirling that a high-profile Labour individual ‘might be about to jump ship, but that might be Nigel Farage merely muddying the waters and stirring things up trying to make the Labour party and supporters more uneasy.’
If Labour saw a defection, the harm would depend on how prominent the person is, such as a Cabinet member high-up the hierarchy.
‘If it’s a box standard bachbencher, it’s neither here nor there. You could see one or two Labour MPs leave Labour and join Your Party. That would be largely inconsequential for the Labour Party, but if it was to be a more high-profile person in the Cabinet, that would be a cause for concern, and jumping to Reform, would be more cause for concern,’ Jones said.
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