Nadine Dorries defects to Reform UK on eve of party conference

Former high-profile Conservative Nadine Dorries has defected to Reform UK on the eve of its party conference.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, the ex-culture secretary said “the Tory Party is dead” and called for its members to “look to the future”.

Ms Dorries, 68, is the highest profile Tory to join Reform after defections from former party chairman Sir Jake Berry, former Wales secretary David Jones and Dame Andrea Jenkyns.

She wrote in the newspaper: “The time for action is now and I believe that the only politician who has the answers, the knowledge and the will to deliver is Nigel Farage.”

It comes as Reform UK kicks off it two-day conference on Friday, with speeches by its four MPs as well as former chairman Zia Yusuf.

Mr Yusuf, now in charge of the party’s Doge (department of government efficiency) unit, will lead a side event on crypto finance, while MP Lee Anderson is scheduled to appear at a conversation on the “crisis facing young men”.

Two Tory former cabinet ministers are also set to attend: Michael Gove will interview Mr Yusuf, while Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg will join a panel.

Ms Dorries said: “My decision to leave the party I’ve served for more than 30 years is possibly the most difficult I’ve ever had to make, and it has taken me 12 agonising months to reach.”

She wrote that her “core beliefs” were the same as when she first joined the Conservatives in 1995, adding that the party “had changed not me”.

A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “We wish Nadine well.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Nadine Dorries says the Tory party is dead – as one of the people who helped to kill it, she should know.

“She backed Boris Johnson through thick and thin despite the partying in Downing Street during the pandemic while people couldn’t see their loved ones. And now she wants to help unleash the same chaos the Tories inflicted on Britain by joining Nigel Farage’s Reform.”

A Liberal Democrat source said: “We don’t know who to feel more sorry for, Kemi Badenoch or Nigel Farage.”

Ms Dorries stepped down as an MP in 2023 after 18 years in the House of Commons, and accused former leader Rishi Sunak of “demeaning his office by opening the gates to whip up a public frenzy” against her.

She also accused Mr Sunak of abandoning “the fundamental principles of Conservatism” and said “history will not judge you kindly”.

The Mail reported that Mr Farage has not guaranteed Ms Dorries a job in a future Reform administration.

But she did not rule out a return to the Commons.

Ms Dorries, who was born in 1957 in Liverpool and grew up on a council estate, wrote in the Daily Mail: “I have known Nigel Farage for some considerable time, and no-one can deny that he believes in what he says because he’s been saying the same thing for more than 30 years.”

It comes as The Telegraph reported that Mr Farage plans a US-style “cabinet of all the talents” if Reform UK wins the next general election.

Cabinet ministers in a Reform UK government could be members of the House of Lords rather than elected MPs, Mr Yusuf told the newspaper.

He said:  “The number of people who are coming forward saying that they want to help Reform, either in the background or potentially front line, is growing all of the time.

“Some of these people are household names. I’m not going to give you them, because I’m not going to betray confidences. But these are incredible – this is galactic-level talent that we’d be very proud to have serving our country.”

It comes as polling by More in Common found Reform UK’s support base has become more mainstream, with a narrower gender gap, broader age spread and views closer to average Britons on most social issues — though immigration remains the party’s defining concern.

Some 40% of current supporters backed Reform UK in 2024 and others have since switched from Labour and the Conservatives, or were non-voters.

The polling found that Reform UK supporters placed more importance on immigration than the average voter – some 86% would support a reduction in net migration compared with 58% of the wider public.