Liz Truss would not be accepted if she wanted to join Reform UK, an insider has said. The former prime minister has “far too much baggage” in the public’s mind, according to the source.
Speculation as to whether the former MP for South West Norfolk would join Nigel Farage’s ranks comes after former party chairman Sir Jake Berry announced he was joining Reform. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has dismissed defectors as never being Conservatives to begin with.
Mr Farage has said he will be “picky” about which defectors from the Tories he would be willing to accept. Ms Truss has been approached for comment.
Reform’s apparent reluctance to countenance Ms Truss joining them comes after polling from Ipsos published in May showed one third (34%) of Brits said they would view Reform UK more negatively if she defected to the party.
Ms Truss is not the only senior Tory to have their name floated as a possible defector to Mr Farage’s outfit, but she is arguably the most high-profile.
She is not the only senior Tory that Mr Farage apparently doesn’t want to share a platform with. A source told GB News former Home Secretary Suella Braverman would be unwelcome in Reform as her record shows she is “just too disruptive”.
Mrs Braverman’s husband Rael Braverman switched allegiance from the Tories to Reform last year. Mrs Braverman said at the time that she and her husband have a healthy respect for each other’s independence.
She said: “He doesn’t tell me how to do my job, and I don’t tell him how to pick a political party.”
After reports his wife could be barred from joining Reform, Mr Braverman wrote a one-word post on X: “Awkward”.
Sir Jake was the latest in a line of Tory defectors, joining former Wales secretary David Jones, former minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns and others in jumping ship to Reform.
The defections have raised questions over whether politicians on the right regard Mr Farage’s party as a better bet for election than the Conservatives.
Earlier in the week, Mrs Badenoch accused those leaving her party of behaving “like they do in banana republics”.
She said politicians such as Sir Jake had “probably been holding us back for a long time” and were “welcome” to leave.
The Tory leader said: “There are a lot of people who come into politics just to play the game of politics, and they will follow polls and defect wherever they can, like they do in banana republics, to wherever they think that they can win.”
Comparing her platform to Reform’s, Mrs Badenoch said: “I have said that we’ve got to bring the welfare budget down, Nigel Farage is talking about more and more welfare.
“I have said that we need to live within our means, Nigel Farage wants to spend billions on nationalisation.”
She added: “So if there are people who call themselves Conservatives, who like that policy platform, my view is that they were never Conservatives to begin with.
“We need to be the authentic, centre-right Conservative Party, and if people don’t like personal responsibility, living within our means, strong borders and making sure that we don’t bankrupt ourselves on net zero, then we don’t mind if they go to Nigel Farage’s party.”