Reform UK claims that more than 1,000 people joined the party after former Conservative Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson became its first MP. Conservative officials are now concerned that more MPs could follow in his footsteps—so much so that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is threatening to call a snap general election if ten Tories in Parliament defect to Reform.
That is according to Sky News, who cited an “influential party figure with impeccable connections.” The Daily Mail added that the warning is intended to put pressure on Conservative MPs “to toe the line or face carnage at the ballot box.”
Reform UK, formerly the Brexit Party, saw its highest poll rating yet following Anderson’s defection. At 12%, it was just ten points behind the Conservatives.
The result confirmed the view of Ben Harris-Quinney, chairman of the Bow Group think tank, who this week told The European Conservative that “whilst the failing establishment has dismissed him as an extremist,” Anderson’s views “are mild compared to a majority in Britain that see their country slipping away ever more quickly.”
The latest Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey also suggested that 21% of voters who backed the Conservatives in 2019 would vote Reform if an election was held tomorrow. 17% would vote for Labour.
One Tory backbencher has claimed that Reform is calling round her colleagues to try and persuade them to follow Anderson’s lead. A Reform source also told The Daily Telegraph that the number of Conservative MPs in talks about possible defections was “low double figures.”
Nigel Farage, the honorary president of Reform, who many say needs to properly return to the fray for the party to make more serious gains, described Anderson’s defection as “huge,” adding: “I don’t think Westminster really understands this yet.”
It has already prompted a fair amount of self-reflection among Tory ranks, including by the ‘New Conservatives’ group of MPs who said in a statement: “We cannot pretend any longer than the plan is working. We need to change course urgently.”
But the reality is that figures both in and out of the party have been saying this for well over a decade, and nothing has changed.
Whether Reform’s growing poll numbers will translate into actual votes when the general election comes and Britons who are fed up with both the Tories and Labour are forced to choose between staying at home and casting a vote that likely won’t change a thing is another matter altogether.
