Nigel Farage is courting significant future problems by enthusiastically welcoming a steady stream of Conservative defectors into Reform UK, according to a former government insider who managed party discipline. Simon Hart, who served as Chief Whip from 2022 to 2024, argues that such turncoats often prove more trouble than they are worth for their new political homes.
The Unifying Fury of Defection
Drawing on his experience in the whips' office, Hart reveals that nothing consolidates a party quite like a member's betrayal. He recalls the visceral reaction to defections, where long-standing internal rivals would instantly call a truce to direct their collective anger towards the perceived traitor. He cites the example of Shaun Woodward, the former Conservative MP for Witney who defected to Labour in 1999. Woodward was ostracised by his old party and never fully trusted by his new colleagues, his move seen as a blatant act of opportunism.
The shock was palpable in April 2024, Hart recounts, when MPs entered the chamber to see Conservative colleague Dan Poulter sitting awkwardly behind Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister's Questions. The move came without warning. Shortly after, Dover MP Natalie Elphicke executed a similar defection to Labour. Hart expresses bewilderment at how Elphicke could have given friends and whips the impression she was voting with the government mere hours before crossing the floor, suggesting such "niceties matter little to the defector community".
A Revealing Roster of Rebels
Examining the list of those who have joined Reform UK from the Conservatives is telling, Hart asserts. After the whip was suspended from Lee Anderson, he assured party figures he was "going nowhere," only to defect to Reform days later. The roll call continues with Andrea Jenkyns, Jake Berry, the former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, Sarah Atherton, and Maria Caulfield.
All, Hart notes, parrot a familiar refrain that the Conservative Party no longer represents their values. This is despite most having endorsed and voted for the very immigration policies championed by Boris Johnson, which they now claim to find unacceptable. The group expanded to include Danny Kruger as the first sitting Tory MP to defect, followed by peer Malcolm Offord and former MP Ben Bradley.
Hart identifies a common trait among these defectors: a difficulty in operating as part of a collegiate team. They are often loners, driven by an unshakeable ideological vision that leaves little room for the compromise essential to politics. Many also defect with an expectation of reward, whether a safe seat, a mayoral nomination, or even a peerage.
Opportunism and Future Trouble for Farage
The central issue for Nigel Farage, Hart contends, is that these moves are fundamentally acts of opportunism. "Defectors want something," he states. If their demands are not met in their new party, they are likely to react with the same petulance they showed when their former party refused them, often timing outbursts to cause maximum embarrassment.
The recent wave of defecting councillors and ex-MPs exemplifies this, Hart argues. Each owes their political career to Conservative volunteers, donors, and voters. He questions why they cannot defect with more grace, perhaps triggering a by-election to test if their constituents support their new allegiance, rather than "retreating quietly into the background."
While acknowledging rare honourable exceptions in history, such as Winston Churchill's party moves or the formation of the SDP by the 'Gang of Four' in 1981, Hart believes the current defections lack such principle. He advises current Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch to hold firm and suggests that observers view these moments for what they are: self-serving manoeuvres by individuals ill-suited to the collaborative nature of party politics.
