In a typical Nigel Farage tease, the Reform UK leader has said that a “well known Labour figure” will defect to his party next week.
But who? Notice that he said a “Labour figure” rather than “Labour MP”.
That perhaps suggests he means an ex-MP or a peer. Or someone who’s both.
And after Nadhim Zahawi and Robert Jenrick this week, what about more Tory defectors.
Kemi Badenoch told Sky News she was “100% confident” there would be no more shadow cabinet defections.
In both parties, it’s fair to assume that candidates for defecting to Reform UK will be committed Brexiteers, socially conservative and – from Labour – Red Wallers or Blue Labour.
That narrows it down. In the 2016 referendum the two most high-profile pro-Brexit Labour MPs were Kate Hoey and Gisela Stuart, both awarded a peerage by Boris Johnson and both no longer Labour.
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Kate Hoey
Born in Norther Ireland, as MP for the inner London seat of Vauxhall she was a junior Home Office minister and then sports minister under Tony Blair, but later became an outspoken backbench rebel.
She was pro fox hunting, pro-Brexit, pro tougher immigration controls, pro curbs on welfare spending and grammar schools. She was against the Iraq war, Trident, tuition fees, ID cards and more LGBT+ rights.
On Brexit, she was co-chair of Labour Leave, active in Grassroots Out, alongside Mr Farage and left-wing firebrand George Galloway, and accused the BBC of being “embittered remainers”.
Asked if she’s Mr Farage’s “well known Labour figure”, she told sky News: “Not sure I’m that well known. Haven’t been a Labour Party member for over eight years!” Not a yes or a no, then.
Gisela Stuart
Born in Germany, she was MP for the suburban seat of Birmingham Edgbaston and a junior health minister under Tony Blair. She was later chair of Vote Leave, the official pro-Brexit campaign, led by Borish Johnson and Michael Gove.
Johnson later appointed her First Civil Service Commissioner, effectively a Whitehall watchdog, a post she still holds under Sir Keir Starmer.
But she emphatically denies being poised to defect to Reform UK. “Thank you for the straightforward question,” she told Sky News. “It deserves a straightforward answer… No.”
Read more:
All the former Conservative MPs who have defected to Reform
Ex-Tory chancellor defects to Reform
And what about possible Conservative defections? As Kemi Badenoch says, shadow cabinet defections are highly unlikely. But there are potential Tory defectors among ex-ministers and less senior front benchers. For example:
Suella Braverman
Named after Sue Ellen Ewing in Dallas, (yes, really!), the fiercely right-wing former home secretary has been on defection watch for years.
That’s hardly surprising. In 2024 she suggested the Conservatives should welcome Nigel Farage into the party to “unite the right”, a phrase used by Robert Jenrick after his defection.
As a controversial home secretary, she said sending illegal migrants to Rwanda was her “dream” and called left-wing demonstrators “Guardian-reading, Tofu-eating wokerati”. She’s a bitter opponent of the European Convention on Human Rights.
MP for Fareham and Waterlooville in Hampshire, she chaired the pro-Brexit European Research Group of Tory MPs, was a Brexit minister under Theresa May but quit and stood for the Tory leadership and then backed Liz Truss.
Andrew Rosindell
The Romford MP and devotee of Margaret Thatcher has called Mr Farage “a good man and a patriot” and said he could serve in a government with him in a Conservative-Reform coalition.
He also co-sponsored a private member’s bill introduced by Mr Farage which aimed to prevent “foreign judges” overturning decisions made by the UK parliament.
Socially conservative and Euro-sceptic, he was a Brexit rebel against Theresa May, a critic of Boris Johnson’s lockdown policy during the Covid pandemic and has voted against extending LGBT+ rights.
Asked if he was planning to defect, animal lover Mr Rosindell sent Sky News a photo of a cute dog with the caption: “Who me?” Make of that what you will!
