Reform press conference with Braverman and Frost fuels talk of Tory defections

Tory former big beasts Suella Braverman and Lord Frost are to appear at a press conference with Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice, fuelling defection speculation.

Mr Tice on Wednesday posted on X: “Tomorrow at 10am I will be sharing a press conference with @DavidGHFrost and @SuellaBraverman

“Dont miss it! Will be live streamed.”

The event in London is titled “Why and how to leave the ECHR”.

Former home secretary Ms Braverman has long campaigned for UK withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights in a bid to stop small boat crossings.

Reform has already pledged to leave the ECHR entirely, along with other international conventions it regards as preventing “mass deportations”, while Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has asked her shadow attorney general to examine the practicalities of leaving.

Ms Braverman did not deny that she could use the event to announce a shift in her party allegiance.

A defection to Nigel Farage’s party by Ms Braverman, who is MP for Fareham and Waterlooville, would not come as a surprise to many Westminster watchers.

She has repeatedly refused to rule out ditching the Conservatives and told The Telegraph’s Planet Normal podcast last week: “We can’t ignore the polls. Reform is doing very well at the moment.”

Her husband, Rael Braverman, was a member of Reform for a few months before quitting in July due to criticism of his wife over her immigration policies while at the helm of the Home Office.

Lord David Frost, the former chief Brexit negotiator, has also not ruled out running for Reform UK at a future general election.

The Tory peer told the same podcast in May he was “not emotionally committed” to the Tories, who “still haven’t really clocked what the problem is” with the party following its election wipe-out last year.

It comes after ex-culture secretary Nadine Dorries, on the eve of Reform’s party conference, became the latest former cabinet minister to join Reform in recent months.

Others who have jumped ship recently include former party chairman Sir Jake Berry, former Wales secretary David Jones and Dame Andrea Jenkyns.