Kemi Badenoch has lost another top Tory to Reform (Image: PA/Parliament)
Former Defence Minister Sarah Atherton has defected to Reform in a blow to Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.
The ex-Tory MP, who served in the Intelligence Corps, accused the Conservatives and Labour of having “failed Britain’s Armed Forces”.
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She said Britain “deserves better” which “is why Reform has my support”.
Writing in the Daily Express, Ms Atherton said: “After years in Parliament, I came to the same conclusion many soldiers, sailors and aviators already know: the system doesn’t listen. Both Conservatives and Labour have failed Britain’s Armed Forces. The Conservatives promised strength but delivered weakness.”
She pointed to troop numbers being their lowest in modern history while recruitment targets have been repeatedly missed.
Ms Atherton, who was the MP for Wrexham up until last year’s general election, warned the Navy continues to struggle to crew the ships we have, while the RAF mothballs aircraft faster than it replaces them.
Sarah Atherton said Britain “deserves better” (Image: Andy Stenning/Daily Express)
In August, Ms Atherton quit the Tory party and said she wanted to stand in next May’s Senedd election
She added: “From its inception, Reform has been unashamedly patriotic, built on the core value of Britain. First. It is the only party fighting to ensure the people’s voices are heard and the only one serious about restoring our Armed Forces.
“Reform’s defence policy is clear: increase spending to rebuild capability, strengthen borders, back veterans, and protect sovereignty. You may not always agree with every detail but with Reform you know where we stand — unapologetically on the side of Britain, its people, and its Armed Forces.
“I did not enter politics for titles or convenience. I did it to fight for people—and I have the scars to prove it. The Conservatives have broken their bond of covenant. Labour cannot be trusted with our security. Britain deserves better. That is why Reform has my support.”
Ms Atherton was parliamentary under-secretary of state for defence people, veterans and service families for a brief period in 2022.
She was the first Conservative politician to represent the Wrexham constituency since its creation in 1918.
Her defection to Reform is the latest in a string of former Tories jumping to Nigel Farage’s party.
Mrs Badenoch last month acknowledged her party is enduring a “rough and bumpy time” following the defections of MP Danny Kruger and former minister Maria Caulfield to Reform UK.
The first sitting Conservative MP to defect to the party, Mr Kruger was joined soon after by former Lewes MP Maria Caulfield, who lost her seat at last year’s general election.
Top Tory defects to Reform in major blow to Kemi Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch has faced another significant setback after a senior Conservative figure defected to Reform UK, adding to a growing list of former and sitting Tory politicians who have chosen Nigel Farage’s party.
The movement of politicians from the Conservatives to Reform has become one of the most visible signs of the changing political landscape on the British right. Several former Conservative ministers and MPs have switched allegiance, with the departures creating questions about the future direction of the Conservative Party under Badenoch.
The latest defections have included prominent figures with substantial experience in government and Parliament. Robert Jenrick, a former Conservative leadership candidate and shadow justice secretary, joined Reform in January 2026 after Badenoch removed the Conservative whip. Andrew Rosindell, the long-serving MP for Romford, followed days later. Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi also joined Reform, becoming the most senior former Tory to make the move at that point.
Former home secretary Suella Braverman subsequently joined Reform, further increasing the number of high-profile Conservative figures to leave the party.
The departures have created a political problem for Badenoch, although their significance can be interpreted in different ways. Reform argues that the defections demonstrate growing support for its political project, while Conservative figures have generally portrayed the departing politicians as individuals who chose to leave rather than evidence that the party itself has ceased to have a political future.
Robert Jenrick’s dramatic departure
One of the most consequential defections involved Robert Jenrick.
Jenrick had been a leading Conservative figure and had challenged Badenoch for the party leadership in 2024. He subsequently became shadow justice secretary under her leadership.
His relationship with Badenoch deteriorated in early 2026. The Conservative leader withdrew the whip after her team concluded there was evidence that Jenrick had been preparing to defect to Reform.
Jenrick subsequently appeared alongside Farage and announced that he was joining Reform. He criticised the Conservatives and said that Britain was “completely broken”, while arguing that Farage should become prime minister.
The circumstances were particularly significant because Jenrick had not been an ordinary backbench MP. He had occupied senior government positions and had recently been a candidate for Conservative leadership.
His move therefore provided Reform with a prominent politician who already had experience at the highest levels of government.
It also created a difficult situation for Badenoch because Jenrick had been one of her leading potential challengers within the Conservative Party.
The Guardian reported that Badenoch’s team had become aware of Jenrick’s plans shortly before his departure and moved to remove him from the party before he could announce his defection on his own terms.
Andrew Rosindell follows
Just days later, another Conservative MP crossed the floor.
Andrew Rosindell, the MP for Romford since 2001, resigned from his position as a shadow foreign affairs minister and left the Conservative Party to join Reform.
Rosindell said the decision was motivated principally by the Conservatives’ position on the Chagos Islands and what he described as a failure to defend British sovereignty and Chagossian self-determination.
He said that the time had come to put “country before party”.
The move was significant because Rosindell had been a Conservative member since he was 14 and had spent decades representing the party in Parliament.
It also meant that Reform had gained two Conservative MPs in the space of less than a week.
Sky News reported that Rosindell became the seventh Reform MP following his defection.
For Badenoch, the timing was particularly awkward. She had been attempting to demonstrate that the Conservative Party could remain a distinct political force rather than simply compete with Reform on every issue.
The departures made that challenge more visible.
Nadhim Zahawi adds another high-profile name
The movement was not limited to sitting Conservative MPs.
Nadhim Zahawi, who served as chancellor for a brief period and held several senior government positions, joined Reform in January.
Zahawi said he had been motivated by concerns including taxation and what he described as restrictions on free expression. Reform presented his arrival as evidence that experienced Conservative politicians were increasingly attracted to Farage’s party.
The circumstances surrounding his departure also generated a separate political dispute.
According to Conservative sources cited by the Guardian, Zahawi had sought a peerage from Badenoch’s team but had not been selected. The Conservatives disputed the significance of the contact, while sources suggested his request had been rejected partly because of his previous removal as Conservative Party chairman following controversy over his tax affairs.
Zahawi’s move therefore carried a different political meaning from that of a sitting MP crossing the floor.
Nevertheless, it added another former senior Conservative voice to Reform’s ranks.
Suella Braverman joins the exodus
The series of defections continued with Suella Braverman, the former Conservative home secretary.
Braverman had been a prominent figure on the right of the Conservative Party and had previously competed for the leadership. Her decision to leave and join Reform therefore attracted considerable attention.
She criticised the Conservatives over issues including immigration, taxation, Brexit and the size of the state, while saying she had concluded that Reform represented a better political home for her views.
Her defection brought another former cabinet minister into Reform’s parliamentary group.
It also reinforced a pattern: politicians who had occupied influential positions within the Conservatives were now appearing alongside Farage.
However, the reasons given by individual defectors have not been identical.
Jenrick focused heavily on the Conservatives’ political direction. Rosindell highlighted the Chagos Islands. Zahawi cited taxation and censorship. Braverman pointed to immigration, Brexit and what she described as the Conservatives’ failure to deliver the political changes she expected.
That variety makes it difficult to reduce the defections to one single cause.
Badenoch’s response
Badenoch has consistently rejected the idea that Conservative defections automatically demonstrate that Reform is replacing the Conservatives.
In August 2026, she described Reform defectors as among “the most dishonest people” she had met and ruled out a future coalition or political arrangement between the Conservatives and Farage’s party. She also said that politicians who had left should not expect an easy return.
Her position is important because it establishes a clear distinction between the two parties.
Rather than attempting to absorb Reform into the Conservative movement, Badenoch has argued for maintaining the Conservatives as a separate political organisation.
The strategy creates a difficult political question, however.
If the Conservatives move closer to Reform on issues such as immigration, taxation and national sovereignty, they risk reducing the distinction between the parties. But if they maintain significant differences, they may face competition from a party seeking to attract voters on the right.
The defections make that tension more visible.
Reform’s expanding parliamentary presence
For Reform, the arrivals provide several practical advantages.
Experienced politicians bring parliamentary knowledge, government experience and established networks. They can also provide the party with additional spokespeople on policy issues.
Reform’s parliamentary group has grown significantly since the 2024 general election. Sky News documented a succession of former Conservative politicians joining the party, including Danny Kruger, Nadine Dorries, Adam Holloway, Maria Caulfield and others.
Danny Kruger was particularly notable because he became the first sitting Conservative MP to defect to Reform. He said at the time that he believed the Conservative Party had lost its way and that Reform offered a different political direction.
The accumulation of defections has therefore given Reform a growing collection of politicians who previously operated within the Conservative establishment.
That is politically useful to Farage because Reform has often been portrayed by its opponents as a relatively new political movement without the institutional experience of the established parties.
What the defections mean for the Conservatives
The impact on the Conservatives is more complicated than simply counting the number of politicians who have left.
Some defectors no longer represented constituencies won by the Conservatives at the 2024 general election. Others, such as Jenrick and Rosindell, were sitting MPs.
The loss of a sitting MP directly reduces the Conservative parliamentary group, while the departure of former MPs or ministers affects the party’s public profile rather than its Commons numbers.
There is also a question of whether individual defections translate into changes among voters.
A politician changing parties does not automatically mean that all of their previous supporters will follow them. Constituency electorates can be influenced by local candidates, national party leadership, individual issues and broader political developments.
Consequently, the defections are evidence of political movement among politicians, but they are not by themselves evidence that voters will behave in exactly the same way.
A battle over the future of the right
The deeper issue is the relationship between the Conservatives and Reform.
For decades, the Conservatives were the principal party of the British centre-right. Reform has challenged that position by seeking support from voters who believe the Conservatives have been too cautious or insufficiently committed to policies on immigration, Brexit, taxation and national sovereignty.
The defections have made that competition more visible.
At the same time, Badenoch has made clear that she does not intend simply to merge the Conservative Party with Reform.
Her decision to reject a coalition with Farage’s party means that the two organisations remain separate competitors.
That could make future contests on the right more complicated, particularly under Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system, where two parties competing for similar voters can affect constituency outcomes in ways that cannot be understood simply from national vote shares.
For now, the succession of defections is an established feature of British politics rather than a settled verdict on which party will ultimately dominate the right.
The arrival of Jenrick, Rosindell, Zahawi and Braverman has strengthened Reform’s parliamentary and political profile. At the same time, the Conservatives continue to have a substantial organisational base, a long-established membership and a parliamentary presence.
For Badenoch, the challenge is to demonstrate that the Conservative Party can retain its identity and rebuild support while Reform competes for many of the same voters.
For Farage, the defections offer an opportunity to argue that his party is attracting politicians with experience inside the traditional Conservative establishment.
The political significance of the latest defection therefore lies not only in the identity of the individual who has changed parties, but in what the continuing movement says about Britain’s changing party system.
The Conservatives and Reform are now competing openly for political space on the right, while individual politicians continue to make their own calculations about where they believe their political future lies. The defections have made that contest more visible, but the eventual effect on voters and future elections remains a matter for voters and future electoral results rather than something that can be established from the defections themselves.