Braverman says she can ‘no longer trust the Tories’ after Reform defection
Mrs Braverman said the Conservative Party had ‘left the building’ and no longer represented the values she believed it did when she joined.
Former Tory home secretary Suella Braverman has said she “no longer” trusts the Conservative Party, after making a shock defection to Reform UK.
Speaking alongside her new party leader, Nigel Farage, Mrs Braverman said the Conservative Party had “left the building” and no longer represented the values she believed it did when she joined the Tories.
She accused the party of “betrayal” and said it felt like a divorce.
Mr Farage, meanwhile, doubled down on Reform’s message that “Britain is broken” at a central London press conference, amid criticism of the message from his political opponents.
Former minister Mrs Braverman is the latest Conservative to leave the party for Reform, hot on the heels of fellow MPs Robert Jenrick and Andrew Rosindell.
She brings the number of sitting MPs in Mr Farage’s party to eight.
On Monday evening, Mrs Braverman told reporters she had “not taken this decision lightly”.
She added: “If the party you joined no longer reflects the values and principles that it once did, you should question your allegiance. If the party keeps breaking its promises, you should question your loyalty.
“And now too many promises lie in tatters. Too much damage has been done, and I no longer trust the Conservative Party.”
She said she was “wrong” to think Brexit had been the point where the Tory Euro-sceptic wing had won rule of the party, instead suggesting Brexit was “actually a facade for what turned out to be a largely Lib Dem, socialist-light agenda”.
“The Conservative Party has gone, the Conservative Party has left the building,” the Fareham and Waterlooville MP added.
She likened the split to a relationship ending and accused the party of betrayal.
“I’ve never been divorced, but I’ve observed a lot of divorces, and this feels a bit like a divorce. Been in a relationship, there’s been a lot of and frequent betrayal on the part of one party, and yet I’ve stayed loyal, tried to make it work.”
Elsewhere, Mr Farage doubled down on the narrative that “Britain is broken”, defying attempts by the Tories to counter the portrayal, and insisting a positive message will be a key point of difference for them and Reform UK.
He told reporters: “I’ll tell you what the key difference is, and it’s this: The Prime Minister insists that Britain is not broken, the Leader of the Opposition insists that Britain is not broken; we absolutely insist that Britain is broken.
“I don’t think until you’re prepared to accept the depths to which we’ve sunk and are sinking fast – economically, socially, societally – unless you understand and accept those things, that it’s impossible to get into the mindset to be radical enough to change them.
“It is like the others want to sort of fiddle with the plumbing; we think you need a completely brand new boiler and a brand new system.”
Mrs Braverman had earlier said she felt she had “come home” as she confirmed her defection during a Reform UK event for veterans.
She will represent her constituency of Fareham and Waterlooville as a Reform UK MP with immediate effect after resigning her Conservative Party membership of 30 years, she said.
