After a string of recent defections, it turns out there are some Tories Reform still wouldn’t take.
Nigel Farage is set to reject any bids to jump ship from Suella Braverman or Liz Truss amid concerns they would damage Reform’s image, the Mail has learnt.
Speculation is rife that Mrs Braverman could switch allegiance while Ms Truss has been tipped as a potential defector.
Despite the huge publicity value of attracting a former home secretary or prime minister, Reform sources said neither would be welcome.
One well-placed insider claimed Mrs Braverman was ‘not a team player’, adding: ‘Her record shows she is just too disruptive.’
And the source said Ms Truss joining would be a ‘non-starter’ as she has ‘far too much baggage in the public’s mind’.
Mr Farage said this week a defection bid by Ms Truss would trigger ‘a lot of internal debate’.
Reform has brought in senior Tories such as former Cabinet ministers Sir Jake Berry and David Jones this week, as well as ex-MP Dame Andrea Jenkyns – now the party’s Greater Lincolnshire mayor.
Mr Farage also confirmed Reform has spoken to serving Conservative MPs but played down the prospect of imminent defections, saying candidates were ‘watching and waiting’.
The Reform leader warned he would be ‘picky’ about which Tories to accept, saying: ‘We are not the Conservatives 2.0 and we don’t want to look like them.’
Mrs Braverman has refused to rule out switching to Reform. Last year, her husband Rael defected to the party.
After Reform’s surge in May’s local elections, she said she understood why voters were ‘flocking’ to the party.
But her period in government was marked by controversy. In 2022, she announced her bid to succeed Boris Johnson as Tory leader while still serving as his attorney general.
She was forced to quit as Home Secretary by Liz Truss and sacked from the same role a year later by Rishi Sunak.
Kemi Badenoch yesterday said Tories who have defected were ‘never Conservatives to begin with’, adding: ‘These are former MPs who do not like the direction the party is going, because we are becoming more Conservative.’