Jan 27, 2026 03:36 AM
https://www.euronews.com/2026/01/26/cons...-reform-uk
INTRO: Former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman became the latest politician from the party to defect to hard-right rival Reform UK.
Braverman, who was fired from her job as interior minister in 2023 after repeatedly diverging from government policy, said on Monday she had quit the Conservatives after 30 years and would represent her southern England constituency in Parliament as a Reform UK lawmaker.
"We can either continue down this route of managed decline to weakness and surrender," Braverman said. "Or we can fix our country, reclaim our power, rediscover our strength. I believe that a better Britain is possible."
Braverman is the latest high-profile Conservative to embrace Reform UK leader Nigel Farage's message that Britain is broken and overrun by migrants. Her move on the heels of Robert Jenrick's recent defection gives Farage's party eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons. The Conservatives have 116 seats and remain the official opposition to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government.
Although Reform has a tiny number of seats in Parliament, it leads the governing Labour Party and the Conservatives in opinion polls ahead of important local elections in May, including for the parliaments in Scotland and Wales... (MORE - details)
INTRO: Former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman became the latest politician from the party to defect to hard-right rival Reform UK.
Braverman, who was fired from her job as interior minister in 2023 after repeatedly diverging from government policy, said on Monday she had quit the Conservatives after 30 years and would represent her southern England constituency in Parliament as a Reform UK lawmaker.
"We can either continue down this route of managed decline to weakness and surrender," Braverman said. "Or we can fix our country, reclaim our power, rediscover our strength. I believe that a better Britain is possible."
Braverman is the latest high-profile Conservative to embrace Reform UK leader Nigel Farage's message that Britain is broken and overrun by migrants. Her move on the heels of Robert Jenrick's recent defection gives Farage's party eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons. The Conservatives have 116 seats and remain the official opposition to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government.
Although Reform has a tiny number of seats in Parliament, it leads the governing Labour Party and the Conservatives in opinion polls ahead of important local elections in May, including for the parliaments in Scotland and Wales... (MORE - details)