Conservative MP Suella Braverman has been forced to deny she would defect to Reform UK if she loses the next Conservative Party leadership election.
The former Home Secretary is reportedly struggling to muster enough support within her party to secure the top job, with sources on both sides now expecting her to jump ship to join Nigel Farage’s party.
A spokesman for Braverman said: “Suella was only recently elected as a Conservative MP and has been a member of the Conservative Party for three decades.”
Speaking to GB News, political commentator Charlie Rowley said that while it might be “a good move for Suella and a good move for reform”, the move would be “not a good idea” for the former Home Secretary.
Suella Braverman has been tipped to defect to Reform UK as the Conservatives struggle to find a new party leader
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A Reform UK source told The i newspaper that the party “expects her to defect after losing the Conservative leadership contest”, possibly in the autumn.
Responding to the reports, Rowley told GB News: “I’m sure the Reform Party would love to have a former Home Secretary, someone who has actually held a cabinet position and held senior positions.
“But I don’t think it’s really the right decision. The idea that there’s this conversation about her leaving to join the Reform Party is not a good thing for her.”
Discussing his chances of success in the upcoming Conservative leadership election, Rowley claimed Braverman had “lost the support” of his party colleagues, with the current frontrunners being Tom Tugendhat and Robert Jenrick.
The Conservatives are set to launch a leadership contest after former prime minister Rishi Sunak suffered a crushing defeat in the general election.
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Rowley explained: “The idea that Suella Braverman should now have to say, no, I’m not leaving the Conservative Party, before the leadership shot has even been fired, is not a good idea.
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“She’s lost support because I think most people recognise that the Conservative Party needs to rebuild. They need to find someone who can bring people together after what was a cataclysmic defeat for the Conservative Party.”
Noting Braverman’s previous controversies during his time as Home Secretary, Rowley claimed his “extreme views” had “done the opposite” of uniting the Conservatives after the general election.
He added: “She has done exactly the opposite by being even more extreme in her views, even more isolationist in her remarks and by redoubling her efforts.
“It scared my colleagues, which is why people talk about Robert Jenrick as the more sensible of the two in terms of the right, and people like Tom Tugendhat.”
Charlie Rowley said the move would “not be a good thing” for Suella Braverman
GB News
Turning the discussion to Labour amid the Tory chaos, host Dawn Neesom asked Rowley whether the changes already implemented by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer would mean an “end to the honeymoon period”.
Rowley agreed, telling GB News: “I think it will end quite quickly. This is not the government that these people really wanted, I think – they voted for change, but I don’t think it’s the change they wanted.”
“They certainly did not want ever closer ties with the EU. They wanted the small boat crisis to end, but is that how it will end?”
“By giving even more money to France and granting an amnesty on the 90,000 pending cases that we already have in this country? I don’t think that’s what public opinion wants.”
