Latest bombshell Reform UK defection signals total crisis for Conservatives | Politics | News
The arrival of former Conservative superstar Ben Bradley into the ranks of Reform UK is a significant moment for Nigel Farage’s party. Mr Bradley was not long ago a pioneer of blue-collar conservatism, but his departure from Reform UK signals that the Conservative Party’s mission to win over the patriotic working class is in serious crisis.
The Derbyshire-born son of a police officer became the first Conservative in history to win Mansfield at the 2017 election. At 27, he showed he could win voters in the Conservatives’ so-called Labor strongholds. His victory paved the way for Boris Johnson to tear down Labour’s “Red Wall” in 2019. He became leader of Nottinghamshire County Council in 2021.
That council is now dominated by Reformation and memories of Mr Johnson’s “Get Brexit Done” election are fading. The Conservative Party once talked excitedly about a “realignment” of UK politics, with voters abandoning the liberal Labor Party for a Brexit-loving Conservative Party focused on blue-collar concerns such as the revitalization of the high street.
Historic change may well be on the way, but it is the Reformation that is now reaping its fruits.
Mr Bradley’s decision to take on the role of “head of local government action” enhances Reform’s credibility. Like fellow Tory defector Danny Kruger, he would not have left the Tory tribe unless he was convinced Mr Farage’s party could make history.
His assessment of where the traditional government parties went wrong is telling.
“They talked about getting tough on crime, reducing immigration, helping working people, but in practice they didn’t take action and did the exact opposite,” he said.
“Trust in these parties is gone and will not come back.”
When he attends Reform’s next conference he may well encounter many former Conservative MPs who have concluded that their old party is beyond resurgence.
Former Stoke-on-Trent North MP Jonathan Gullis and former Greater Grimsby MP Lia Nici also joined the teal team. Veteran Brexiteer Dame Andrea Jenkyns is now the Reform Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire and former Tory leader Sir Jake Berry wants to see Mr Farage in No 10 today.
Former cabinet ministers Nadine Dorries and David Jones have also made their new political home with Reform.
Labor will argue that this shows that Reform is nothing more than a hotbed for disaffected Tories. But Sir Keir Starmer knows that voters who gave Mr Johnson the chance to end the Brexit chaos in 2019 could also give Mr Farage the power to end the small boat crisis if chaos in the Channel continues.
The Conservatives need to persuade the most promising potential candidates to side with their party, not Reform. To survive as a national party, it needs to recruit without delay a new generation of Ben Bradleys who can gain the trust of its prosperity-hungry communities.
