Full list of Tories who have defected to Farage’s Reform after Jenrick officially joins
Former Tory justice secretary Robert Jenrick joined Reform UK hours after he was sacked by Kemi Badenoch for “plotting to sneak out”.
Party leader Nigel Farage told a press conference in central London that it was “a big day in the realignment of the true centre-right of this country”.
He told reporters: “I think Rob’s arrival will bring us a lot more people and voters. I think it’s actually a huge moment and that’s why we talked about it for a long time.”
The Reform UK leader said former Tory Mr Jenrick would “join our frontline team”. Mr Jenrick has been subject to speculation about his leadership ambitions since he was defeated in his bid to take the reins of the party in 2024 and has repeatedly crossed the shadow cabinet line.
Ms Badenoch said of X: “I have sacked Robert Jenrick from the shadow cabinet, removed the whip and suspended his party membership with immediate effect.
“I have been presented with clear and irrefutable evidence that he secretly planned to defect in a manner designed to cause as much damage as possible to his colleagues in the shadow cabinet and the wider Conservative Party.”
Speaking to the press, Robert Jenrick said that the Conservative Party was “not sorry” for the mistakes they made in the government.
The former Conservative shadow justice secretary told the defection press conference: “After the last general election, I put forward an argument to the Conservative Party, and in some respects I have not stopped making the argument that he has let the country down, that he needs to be painfully honest about the mistakes he has made, really show publicly that he is sincere about that, and then provide serious responses to the huge challenges that our country is facing at the moment.”
He added: “It wouldn’t take me the blink of an eye to tell you that I want Nigel to be our prime minister after the next general election.”
Mr Jenrick joins the likes of Nadhim Zahawi, Lee Anderson, Nadine Dorries and Danny Kruger as former Conservatives who have joined the party in the last two years.
Here are other Conservatives who have defected to Reform UK:
Lee Anderson
Mr Anderson was elected Conservative MP for Ashfield in 2019; In March 2024, Reform defected to the UK and has since become Chief Whip. He retained his seat as a Reform UK MP in the 2024 general election.
Jonathan Gullis
In December last year, Mr Gullis announced he was defecting to Reform UK, more than a year after admitting he had been unable to find permanent work since losing his seat as the Conservative MP for Stoke-on-Trent North at the 2024 general election. He was a Conservative Party MP from 2019 to 2024, and briefly served as party deputy leader from March 2024.
Nadine Dorries
After 25 years as a Conservative Party member, Ms Dorries announced she would be heading to Reform England in September last year. The former politician was MP for Mid Bedfordshire from 2005 to 2023 and was Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport under Boris Johnson from 2021 to 2022.
David Jones
Last summer, the former cabinet minister and Clwyd West MP defected to Farage’s party after more than 50 years as a member of the Conservative Party. He represented the Clwyd West constituency from 2005 to 2024. In his farewell speech, Mr Jones said: “Today, Reform UK is the party that best represents my views and, I believe, the views of many others who are disillusioned with the two great old parties.”
Dame Andrea Jenkins
Dame Andrew, who served as Conservative MP for Morely and Outwood from 2015 to May 2024, left the party for Reform UK in November of the same year. He then announced his candidacy for Reform in the 2025 election for the newly created position of Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire last year and joined the party’s decision-making committee.
Danny Kruger
Mr Kruger, the MP for East Wiltshire, formerly Devizes, was one of the most prominent figures since 2019 to leave Reform UK in September last year. He told a press conference: “This is my tragic outcome; the Conservative Party is finished, it is finished as a national party, it is finished as the main opposition of the left.”
Lucy Allan
Ms Allan, the former MP for Telford from 2015 to 2024, resigned and was suspended from the Conservative Party at the last general election after openly supporting the Reform UK candidate in the same constituency she previously represented.
Sir Jake Berry
After serving as MP for Rossendale and Darwen from 2010 to 2024, Sir Jake defected to Reform last July. A Conservative MP, he was briefly Leader of the Conservative Party in 2022 and was secretary of state for the Northern Powerhouse and local growth from 2017 to 2020 under both Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
Anne-Marie Morris
Last year Ms Morris joined Reform UK to drive social care policy. Before this, he served as the Conservative MP for Newton Abbot from 2010 to 2024. During his 14-year tenure, he lost the party whip twice, for a nine-month period between July and December 2017 and then again between January and May 2022.
Marco Longhi
In January last year, Mr Longhi switched from the Conservative Party to Reform UK and is now chairman of Turning Point UK. The former Conservative MP for Dudley North has been a member of the Conservative Party since 1999.
Ross Thomson
Mr Thomson, the former MP for Aberdeen South from 2017 to 2019, was a key supporter of Boris Johnson. In June last year, Reform announced he had defected to England, saying: “Only Reform has the courage and answers to the problems facing Scotland and the UK.”
Chris Green
Mr Green is one of the last Conservatives to defect to Reform England in December last year after serving as MP for Bolton West from 2015 to 2024.
Lia Nici
Ms Nici switched from the Conservative Party to Reform in December, following a career as MP for Great Grimsby between 2019 and 2024. He served as government aide to Liz Truss during her brief tenure as prime minister in 2022.
Ben Bradley
The former Mansfield MP and Nottingham County Council leader announced he was joining Reform in December, stating that trust in the Conservatives was “gone” and “won’t come back”. He has been appointed head of Reform’s local government action and will focus on reducing council spending.
Nedim Zahawi
The former Tory chancellor became the highest-profile politician to switch from the Conservatives to Reform at the beginning of January. Mr Zahawi, who held ministerial posts under Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, said Britain “really needs Nigel Farage as prime minister”. But some Conservative sources said Mr Zahawi jumped ship after his request for entitlement was rejected by Ms Badenoch; He also denied this claim.
Robert Jenrick
Mr Jenrick, who was sacked as shadow justice minister on Thursday, said of his departure: “If we don’t get the next Government right, Britain is likely to be past the point of repair.”
He added: “I cannot in good conscience remain loyal to a party that has failed so badly, that is not sorry and that has not changed, that I know in my heart of hearts will not – cannot – deliver what is needed.
“That’s why I decided to leave. Because Nigel Farage has consistently and often stood alone for what’s needed.”
