In a significant political realignment, former UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has abandoned the Conservative Party after three decades to join the hard-right Reform UK party. The prominent anti-immigration lawmaker, who represented a southern England constituency, announced her defection on Monday, marking another high-profile departure from the Conservatives.
Braverman, dismissed from her interior minister position in 2023 for repeatedly contradicting government policy, declared her decision stemmed from fundamental disagreements with the party’s direction. ‘We can either continue down this route of managed decline to weakness and surrender,’ Braverman stated, ‘or we can fix our country, reclaim our power, rediscover our strength. I believe that a better Britain is possible.’
Her move follows recent defections including Robert Jenrick’s, bringing Reform UK’s parliamentary representation to eight seats in the 650-member House of Commons. Despite holding minimal parliamentary seats, Reform UK has demonstrated surprising strength in opinion polls, currently leading both the governing Labour Party and Conservatives ahead of critical local elections in May.
The 45-year-old lawyer’s controversial tenure as home secretary included characterizing migration as a ‘hurricane’ heading for Britain, describing homelessness as a ‘lifestyle choice,’ and accusing police of excessive leniency toward pro-Palestinian protesters. Critics attributed her inflammatory rhetoric to escalating tensions that culminated in clashes between far-right demonstrators and police during large-scale protests.
Braverman, known for criticizing liberal social values and what she termed the ‘tofu-eating wokerati,’ had previously advocated for Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s integration into Conservative ranks following their devastating July 2024 election defeat. After colleagues rejected her proposals and dismissed her as ‘mad, bad and dangerous,’ she has now joined Farage’s expanding political movement that argues Britain is broken and overwhelmed by migration issues.