Reform UK has unveiled a wave of Tory councillor defections in a blow to Kemi Badenoch. Nigel Farage’s party made a series of announcements on the third day of the Conservative conference in Manchester.
Five councillors have become the latest defectors to the insurgent party. They are Mark Whittington, Brett Rosehill, Caroline Clapper, Duane Farr, Denise Howard.
It comes after veteran Tory MP Andrew Rosindell called for his party to work with Reform to oust Labour.
Asked if he was thinking of defecting to Reform, he told GB News: “So, what I want is the right of centre in British politics to come together. Our electoral system can’t accommodate two parties that are broadly conservative.
“That means a divide in the vote and the calamity of another Labour government for five years, or even worse, a Labour government propped up by Liberal Democrats, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SNP, fruit and nut, and whoever else is around to prop Keir Starmer up in office. No, thank you.
“I would much rather see people of like mind on the right of centre to work together. Now, Margaret Thatcher, when she was our leader, we had nothing, no party like Reform. That’s because everybody that’s in Reform today pretty much would have been part of the Conservative Party.
“So I think we need to get everyone working together to rescue our country from the disaster of this left-wing socialist government.”