Maria Caulfield defects to Reform as Nigel Farage claims another former Tory minister

Pressure on Kemi Badenoch as ex-Conservative MP becomes the latest to join Farage’s party

Former health minister Maria Caulfield has become the latest Conservative politician to defect to Reform in another blow for Kemi Badenoch.

Ms Caulfield, who was a Conservative MP for nearly a decade, said “the future is Reform” as she announced her decision to switch to Nigel Farage’s party.

It comes less than a day after the shock defection of sitting Conservative MP and shadow minister Danny Kruger to Nigel Farage’s party.

She becomes the thirteenth former Tory MP to join Reform and her defection comes just 24 hours after sitting Conservative MP and shadow minister revealed he had switched allegiance.

Ms Caulfield told GB News: "If you are Conservative right-minded, then the future is Reform. The country is going to change a lot.

Maria Caulfield was a health minister in the previous Conservative government (Lucy North/PA) (PA Archive)

"The same people who thought that Brexit would not happen think that Reform will not happen. They are in for a shock."

She added: "I have joined. My husband joined a few months ago and I joined a month ago."

She is the latest in a series of high-profile former ministers to join the party - a move which will put pressure on Ms Badenoch, in a week in which her MPs want her to capitalise on Keir Starmer’s woes, not have to deal with her own.

Nigel Farage’s party has another defection from the Tories (Getty)

On Monday Mr Kruger said there was a “crisis in the economy, crisis at the border, crisis in our streets and a crisis in our military”.

He said Britain “is not broken, but it is badly damaged” and that “something has got to give”.

Asked about the defection of Kruger, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the party “is not going to get blown off course by these sorts of incidents”.

The defections are the latest in a long line of departures from the Tories. Nadine Dorries also recently joined Reform, declaring that the Conservative Party is “dead”.

Former Tory MPs, including Dame Andrea Jenkyns and Marco Longhi, and former Tory chair Sir Jake Berry, are also among the most high-profile defectors.

Danny Kruger called on other sitting Tory MPs to defect as he joined Reform UK (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)

As he left Mr Kruger urged other Tory MPs to join him in Mr Farage's party, saying: "I would hope that colleagues who share my view about the crisis the country is in and the opportunity that Reform offers to save our country."

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride insisted Mr Kruger was "profoundly wrong" to say the Conservative Party was "over" when he defected to Reform UK.

Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme about the comments, Mr Stride said: "Well, he's profoundly wrong. I'm sorry to see Danny go, but his analysis is wrong. We don't have an election now for another four years.

"It is certainly the case that we had a devastating defeat about a year ago, that we lost that connection with the electorate, that trust with the electorate, and it is also true that it will take us time to rebuild that."

Mr Stride said the Conservatives were now holding the government "ruthlessly" to account, which would help rebuild trust between the party and the public.

Last year Ms Caulfield, then the vaccines minister, spoke of the “overwhelming” number of death threats she received.

She told MPs that threats on her life rose every time the House of Commons discussed jabs.