Braverman’s defection confirms Farage ‘stuffing his party full of failed Tories’, says Labour
Labour has said that the Suella Braverman defection just confirms that Reform UK is a party “full of failed Tories”.
In a response, Anna Turley, the Labour chair, said:
Nigel Farage is stuffing his party full of the failed Tories responsible for the chaos and decline that held Britain back for 14 years.
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.
Key events
‘Nasty and unpleasant’ – Tory peer Stewart Jackson criticises Tory HQ’s ‘mental health’ briefing against Braverman
Stewart Jackson, a Tory peer and former MP, has described the CCHQ comment about Suella Braverman’s defection as “nasty and unpleasant”. (See 1.41pm.)
What a nasty and unpleasant statement from @Conservatives. That’s another few thousand votes they’ve lost.
Jackson, like Braverman, is a hardcore Brexiter.
Reform UK says it would only allow members of armed forces to be prosecuted for war crimes with defence secretary’s permission
Today’s Reform UK event was notionally focused on veterans. This is from Zia Yusuf, Reform’s head of policy, summing up the policy commitments unveiled.
Today, launching Veterans for Reform, @Nigel_Farage announces that a Reform government will:
1) grant immunity from prosecution for all our armed forces for actions during combat operations, they may only be prosecuted if the Defence Secretary expressly authorises it.
2) use a statutory bar to halt all ongoing prosecutions of our veterans and pardon those convicted for historic operations between now and the general election.
3) leave the ECHR and withdraw from the jurisdiction of the ICC, so foreign judges can no longer hound our forces.
A clear message to our soldiers past, present and future: Reform UK has your back.
This is not quite a blanket immunity from prosecution for any members of the armed forces accused of any sort of war crime. But Yusuf seems to be implying that a Reform defence secretary would only grant permission for a prosecution in exceptional circumstances.
In reality, despite claims made by rightwingers to the contrary, prosecutions of servicemen and women over wartime acts that allegedly broke the rules of war are already relatively rare.
Labour moves writ for Gorton and Denton byelection on 26 February
In the Commons Jonathan Reynolds, the Labour chief whip, has moved the writ for the Gorton and Denton byelection.
That should pave the way for a byelection on Thursday 26 February.
‘Horrible’ – Labour MPs criticise Tory HQ for suggesting Braverman’s mental health factor in her defection
Labour MPs have condemned Tory HQ for suggesting that Suella Braverman’s mental health played a role in her decision to defect to Reform UK. (See 1.41pm.)
This is from Mike Tapp, a Home Office minister.
I have no sympathy for Suella Braverman when it comes to politics and what she did to our immigration system.
But the Tories attacking her mental health is below the standards we expect.
British values are strong but decent, firm but fair. Neither the Tories nor Reform sign up to that.
This is from Josh Fenton-Glynn.
This statement is horrible. Attacking someone on mental health is wrong. The whole thing reads as petty and churlish. The kind of first draft of an email you do before having a cup of tea and letting your better angels take over.
Scottish Reform UK leader urges ‘rational nationalists’ to join ‘moderate unionists’ in backing his party
The Scottish leader of Reform UK has said that the party would not look at the possibility of a second independence referendum for at least 10 years, PA Media reports. PA says:
Speaking at a press conference, Malcolm Offord said his “appeal to Scots” is to “deal with the constitution later”.
He said he believed “moderate unionists no longer represented by the Tories” and “rational nationalists no longer represented by the SNP” could find “common ground and unite their own, one, single ambition to make Scotland the most successful and the most fair country in the world”. He went on:
My appeal to all Scots is to unite their own common vision of prosperity and justice for all now, and deal with the constitution later, and Reform UK is the only party in Scotland with that vision.
I believe it will take 10 years … to turbocharge the economy of Scotland which, in turn, will unleash the innovation required to deliver significant improvements to our health service, our education, our housing and our infrastructure.
That is why I say no to distraction of another referendum, or at least another 10 years, without ruling one out in the future.
These are from Theo Bertram from the Social Market Foundation thinktank.
There are now more members of Liz Truss’ Cabinet in Nigel Farage’s team than in Kemi Badenoch’s team.
Liz Truss Cabinet:
Joined Reform: Suella Braverman Jake Berry Nadhim Zahawi
Still in Tory Shadow Cabinet: Kemi Badenoch James Cleverly
One person from Liz Truss’s cabinet who will not be joining Reform UK is Truss herself. Here is a detail from a story by Ben Quinn and Helena Horton published over the weekend about Truss attending a lunch with Farage.
While Reform UK appears to be keeping the former prime minster at arm’s length publicly, despite welcoming other former Tories, the gathering at Mark’s Club organised by the Heartland Institute raises potentially fresh awkward questions for the party.
“Liz Truss would not be welcome in Reform UK,” the party’s press team replied within seven minutes of being asked by the Guardian if the party would ever allow the UK’s shortest-serving prime minister into its ranks.
The latest edition of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast is out. It features Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey talking about Andy Burnham being blocked from standing in the Gorton and Denton byelection, and Keir Starmer’s trip to China.
Tory MP Louie French says defection of Braverman, after Jenrick, shows Conservative party ‘healing’
This is from the Conservative MP Louie French on the defection of Suella Braverman.
I’m starting to enjoy this January transfer window.
A clear out of overhyped and unmanageable players, allowing for fresh talent to take the team forward.
The Conservative Party is healing and returning to the professional, country first party that I first joined.
French seems to be referring in particular to Braverman and Jenrick. But the former MP Nadhim Zahawi has also defected this month, as has the sitting MP Andrew Rosindell.
Tories imply that Braverman’s ‘mental health’ factor in her defection, saying she was ‘clearly very unhappy’ in their party
The Conservative party has suggested that Suella Braverman’s “mental health” was a factor in her decision to defect to Reform UK.
In an unusually brutal comment on her decision to leave the party this morning, a Conservative party spokesperson told journalists in a statement.
It was always a matter of when, not if, Suella would defect. The Conservatives did all we could to look after Suella’s mental health, but she was clearly very unhappy. She says she feels that she has ‘come home’, which will come as a surprise to the people who chose not to elect a Reform MP in her constituency in 2024.
There are some people who are MPs because they care about their communities and want to deliver a better country. There are others who do it for their personal ambition. Suella stood for leader of the Conservatives in 2022 and came sixth, behind Kemi [Badenoch] and Tom Tugendhat. In 2024 she could not even muster enough supporters to get on the ballot. She has now decided to try her luck with Nigel Farage, who said last year he didn’t want her in Reform. They really are doing our ‘Spring cleaning’!
As always happens with Reform, they unveil defections just when the Labour government is tearing itself to pieces – Rayner, Mandelson, now Burnham. Reform are too busy opposing the Conservatives to hold the Labour government to account. The Conservative party is now the only party that believes in smaller government, less welfare and Britain living within its means, and has the team and the experience to get Britain working again.
This is not the first time Tory HQ has briefed aggressively against a defector. When Nadhim Zahawi joined Reform, the Conservative party let it be known that he only quit after trying, and failing, to get Kemi Badenoch to nominate him for a peerage.
But to mention someone’s “mental health” as a factor in a defection is particularly vicious – and also likely to anger anyone who feels that mental health should not be trivialised, or weaponised, in such a way.
No 10 confirms Starmer going to China this week for first visit by UK PM in eight years
Keir Starmer will travel to China on Tuesday for the first prime ministerial visit to the country in eight years, Downing Street has confirmed. As PA Media reports, Starmer will also fly to Japan this week, No 10 said. The visit marks a significant moment in Starmer’s bid to build bridges with Beijing after a freeze in Sino-British relations in the final years of the Conservative government, PA says. It comes after controversial plans to build a huge new Chinese embassy in London were approved by the government last week.
In the Commons there will be an urgent question on the Chagos Islands deal at 3.30pm. A Foreign Office minister will respond. Last week the government postponed one of the final debates on the bill that will implement the treaty amid concerns the Trump administration has switched its position on the deal and is now opposed.
Then, after 4.15pm, Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, will make her statement about police reform.
Braverman ‘so bad’ she was forced to resign by Truss, and sacked by Sunak, say Lib Dems
And Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrats’ deputy leader, made much the same point in the response issued by her party. 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.
Braverman’s defection confirms Farage ‘stuffing his party full of failed Tories’, says Labour
Labour has said that the Suella Braverman defection just confirms that Reform UK is a party “full of failed Tories”.
In a response, Anna Turley, the Labour chair, said:
Nigel Farage is stuffing his party full of the failed Tories responsible for the chaos and decline that held Britain back for 14 years.
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.
