Twenty Conservative councillors defected to Reform UK on Tuesday, prompting party leader Kemi Badenoch to suggest they lacked the "mettle" to handle difficult times. The mass departure occurred on the eve of the Conservative Party conference finale in Manchester.
Badenoch said supporters who "jump around because they're jumping around polls are not people who can deal with tough times". She told ITV News: "If they cannot deal with tough times in opposition, how are they going to deal with tough times in government?"
The Conservative leader described the defections as people jumping "into whatever lifeboat they think is passing by" during what she called a "long, difficult journey" in Opposition. She added: "We need people who can see through difficult times."
Defector's perspective
Robbie Lammas, a councillor in Medway's Princes Park ward, said he took a "personal risk" by joining Reform UK in a traditionally Conservative area. He warned that the Conservative leadership had been "too tentative for too long", making them look like "they didn't know what they wanted".
Lammas said he had been considering the move since the beginning of this year, citing the party's broad internal divisions. He argued the "liberal part of the Conservative Party will never accept things like" Badenoch's pledge to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
Reform UK has steadily grown its local representation, securing 677 seats at May's local elections and taking control of several authorities in Derbyshire, Kent, Lincolnshire and Staffordshire. East Wiltshire MP Danny Kruger also left the Conservatives for Reform last month.
Timing questions
Badenoch dismissed the defections as "a stunt that Reform has pulled", telling the BBC: "It is not a coincidence that this has all been announced this morning." The timing coincided with her closing speech at the Conservative conference.
However, Lammas insisted his decision was genuine, noting the personal cost in a Kent constituency where Conservatives won more than half the vote share. He said: "There's a lot of personal risk for me going against the grain, especially as we haven't got local elections for two years."
The defecting councillors included representatives from councils across England, spanning from Hertsmere and Gravesham to South Ribble and North Yorkshire. Among them were Mark Whittington, Brett Rosehill, Caroline Clapper, Duane Farr, and Cameron Adams.
Brett Rosehill, representing Aldenham East ward in Hertsmere, rejected Badenoch's characterisation of "shedding baggage". He said: "I think there's a strong, growing movement of people who care about British values and safety."
Badenoch told LBC Radio the Manchester conference was designed to show "the direction of travel: a stronger economy, stronger borders". She maintained that losing supporters was part of shedding "a lot of the baggage of the last 14 years".
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
