It is never ideal in politics to have a senior colleague defect, hurling insults as they depart, but as the dust settles on Robert Jenrick's move to Reform UK, many of the remaining Conservative MPs agree on one thing: it has left Kemi Badenoch stronger. Historically, the party has suffered from two weaknesses: too many people trying to bring down the leader, and not enough leaders getting rid of those people, one shadow minister said. Hopefully now we're all pulling in the same direction.
Former Conservative minister Nadine Dorries has defected to Reform UK. Speaking to the Daily Mail, the ex-MP for Mid-Bedfordshire said: "The Tory Party is dead. Its members now need to think the unthinkable and look to the future." Dorries served as culture secretary and as a health minister under Boris Johnson, of whom she was a close ally. She is the latest in a string of defections from the Conservatives to Reform UK, including former Welsh Secretary David Jones and ex-Tory Chairman Sir Jake Berry.
