Badenoch hit with a blow as top Tory defects to Reform

The Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has been delivered another blow as top veteran Tory Keith Prince has defected to Reform UK.

Prince represents Havering and Redbridge on the London Assembly announced his defection to Nigel Farage’s party.

Prince served almost 50-years as a Tory and the 67-year-old is the latest Tory to defect to Reform in recent weeks.

Prince said that the Conservative Party is “over” and they are “done and dusted” and they are “no longer an effective opposition to this failing Labour government.”

Prince said, “Today I join Reform UK after 49 years as a member of the Conservative Party. I am really excited to be a joining a party with a charismatic leader and a vision for a better Britain.”

Farage said, “With Keith’s defection, Reform UK now has an official group on the London Assembly for the first time.

“Our impressive progress in London continues, and we are building our momentum ahead of London’s local elections next May.”

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp told BBC Breakfast, “Reform have slogans. They shoot from the hip. They write down slogans on the back of a fag packet.

“You remember last week Nigel Farage had some announcement, and it fell apart within about 10 minutes because he had forgotten about European Union citizens.

“What we have here is a very, very carefully thought-out position. It’s taken months of legal work. We know exactly what the implications are for things like the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, the Trade and Co-operation Agreement.

“We know exactly how we can then use the freedom outside the ECHR to get control of our borders.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said in response, “Kemi Badenoch has adopted a policy she argued against in her own leadership campaign because she is too weak to stand up to her own party in the face of Reform.”

“Badenoch now thinks she is both incapable of negotiating changes to the ECHR with our international partners, and a sufficiently accomplished diplomatic operator to renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement, despite not even knowing some of the most basic facts about Northern Irish politics as recently as yesterday.

“This is a decision that has been forced on her and not thought through.

“While the Tories and Reform fight amongst themselves, this Labour Government is cracking down on people-smuggling gangs, deporting foreign criminals and bringing forward workable and decisive solutions to bring order to Britain’s borders.”