Suella Braverman latest: Farage welcomes Tory defector he once called ‘absolutely pathetic’ to Reform – UK Times

Labour MPs warn prime minister the decision will trigger ‘bloodletting’ – but supporters back move, saying it will help party draw a line under recent ‘psychodrama’.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper has been critical of Suella Braverman’s move to Reform.

She said: “Farage has recruited yet another Conservative minister with selective amnesia – one who complains about broken Britain while conveniently forgetting they helped break it.

“Suella Braverman was so bad she was forced to resign from Liz Truss’ cabinet and got sacked by Rishi Sunak.

“With Kemi Badenoch promising to pull the Conservatives further to the right to chase after Nigel Farage, only the Liberal Democrats are standing up for the silent majority who believe in a decent, caring country.”

“Nigel Farage is stuffing his party full of the failed Tories responsible for the chaos and decline that held Britain back for 14 years,” Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley said.

“Suella Braverman helped botch Brexit and got sacked as home secretary – her defection shows Farage is willing to accept the very worst of the Conservative Party and exposes his complete lack of judgment.

“While Reform’s band of failed Tories focus on their careers, Keir Starmer’s Labour Government is focused on cutting the cost of living and fixing our NHS.”

Former home secretary Suella Braverman has become the latest ex-Conservative minister to defect to Reform UK, saying: “I feel like I’ve come home.”

In a press conference in central London, she told a crowd: “Britain is indeed broken. She is suffering. She is not well. Immigration is out of control. Our public services are on their knees. People don’t feel safe.

“Our youngsters are leaving the country for better futures elsewhere. We can’t even defend ourselves, and our nation stands weak and humiliated on the world stage.
So we stand at a crossroads.

“We can either continue down this route of managed decline to weakness and surrender. Or we can fix our country, reclaim our power, rediscover our strength.

“I believe that a better Britain is possible. And because I believe that is possible, today I’m announcing that I resign the Conservative whip.

“I resigned the Conservative whip and my party membership, my party membership of 30 years. It’s gone. It’s over today.

“And because I believe, with my heart and soul, that a better future is possible for us, I am joining Reform UK.”

Nigel Farage described Suella Braverman as “absolutely pathetic” on immigration and stopping the small boats, when she was home secretary two years ago.

He said of a speech she made at the time as: “It is the most disappointing speech we could have expected from a so-called hardliner.”

Suella Braverman has joined her ally Robert Jenrick and other rightwing Tories as being the latest senior figure to desert Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative Party in favour of Reform.

She was unveiled at a Reform rally for veterans in London as the eighth MP for the party having been a rare visitor to parliament in the last few months.

She said: “Today I am announcing that I am resigning the a Conservative whip and my party membership of 30 years. And because I believe with my heart and soul that a better future is possible for us, I am joining Reform UK.”

Follow updates here by The Independent’s political editor David Maddox and political reporter Athena Stavrou: