Nigel Farage has made a bold move to try to persuade a high-profile Tory to defect with Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives in turmoil.
The former Brexit Party and UKIP leader turned GB News host has used his television platform to call on former Home Secretary Suella Braverman to quit the Tories and join Reform.
It comes after Lee Anderson was controversially suspended from the party by Rishi Sunak for alleged Islamophobic remarks about Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.
Anderson had expressed concerns over the way the police in London, which is Khan’s responsibility, have allowed Islamists to take control of the capital’s streets.
Labour MPs have been demanding similar punishment for Ms Braverman who has raised the same concerns.
Speaking on GB News, Farage explained that he does not believe that the Tories will ever agree to withdraw the UK from the ECHR and warned Ms Braverman “should ask herself whether she’s in the right party.”
He said: “Let’s be honest, there is no Conservative Party. They stand up and pretend to be Conservative occasionally but always govern like liberals.
“Are we, in Brexit Britain, a self-governing, self-determining nation? Probably not.
“You can say Labour are worse than the Tories, and they probably are, but the Tories are pretty awful. They won’t even contemplate, as a party, leaving the ECHR which we have to do because that will be true to the spirit of Brexit.
“Labour introduced all of this concept of the Human Rights Act 1998, incidentally something which Cherie Blair benefited from financially, and the Conservatives have done nothing to change it.”
He went on: “It’s all well and good for Suella to come out now, as a former Home Secretary, to say we should do this. Maybe Suella should be asking herself whether she’s in the right party.
“Richard Tice runs Reform, I am merely the honorary president: I am non-executive, I have no fiduciary responsibility so it’s not up to me.
“But would I like to see Suella join Reform? Of course, I would.”
The remarks come as the suspended Mr Anderson has not ruled out joining Reform as well.
Privately, other Tory MPs have expressed concerns that Mr Anderson might not be the only one of their number to go to Reform and that Lee Anderson could attract thousands of ordinary party members to switch parties as well.
