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Former Conservative MP and party chairman Sir Jake Berry has announced he is defecting to Reform UK.<\/p>\n
Writing in the Sun,<\/a> Sir Jake said: “Old Westminster politics has failed. But there’s a better way.”<\/p>\n He said he was backing Reform UK “because I’ve always believed that change comes with challenging the old order. In shaking up the system when it isn’t working”.<\/p>\n A Conservative Party spokesman said: “We wish Jake well in his new high spend, high tax party.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n He added: “Reform support increasing the benefits bill by removing the two-child cap, and nationalising British industry. <\/p>\n “By contrast the Conservatives, under new leadership, will keep making the case for sound money, lower taxes and bringing the welfare bill under control.”<\/p>\n Sir Jake becomes the second former Conservative Cabinet minister to announce his decision to join Nigel Farage’s party this week. On Monday, ex-Welsh Secretary Sir David Jones announced<\/a> he had left the Conservatives for Reform UK earlier this year. <\/p>\n Sir Jake is the fourth former Conservative MP to switch to Reform in the last two weeks, after Sir David, Ross Thomson and Anne Marie Morris.<\/p>\n Sir Jake represented the Lancashire constituency of Rossendale and Darwen from 2010 until 2024, when he lost his seat to Labour. <\/p>\n During his time in Parliament he was a close ally of Boris Johnson and served in several positions including in the Cabinet Office and as Northern Powerhouse minister. <\/p>\n He was appointed as the Conservative Party chairman by Liz Truss during her brief tenure as prime minister. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n In a statement announcing his decision, Sir Jake was heavily critical of both his old party and Labour.<\/p>\n “For 25 years, I was proud to call myself a Conservative – 14 of those years, I served as an MP. I even sat at the Cabinet table twice. I believed in it. I gave it everything.<\/p>\n “But let’s not kid ourselves. Britain is broken. It didn’t start with Labour. The Conservative governments I was part of share the blame.<\/p>\n “We now have a tax system that punishes hard work and ambition. Just this week, we saw record numbers of our brightest and best people leaving Britain because they can’t see a future here. At the same time, our benefits system is pulling in the world’s poor with no plan for integration and no control over who comes in.”<\/p>\n Privately, both Reform and the Conservatives are hinting there might be more defections to come.<\/p>\n Senior Conservatives have accused Reform of gaining ex-MPs while losing current ones.<\/p>\n Since last year’s general election, two of Reform’s MPs have left the party, Rupert Lowe<\/a> and James McMurdock.<\/a><\/p>\n However, Sir Jake’s defection underscores Reform’s growing political momentum – a trend highlighted by Labour’s increasing focus on the party, shifting attention away from the Conservatives.<\/p>\n Responding to the defection, a Labour spokesperson said: “Not content with taking advice from Liz Truss, Nigel Farage has now tempted her Tory Party Chairman into his ranks.<\/p>\n “It’s clear Farage wants Liz Truss’s reckless economics, which crashed our economy and sent mortgages spiralling, to be Reform’s blueprint for Britain.”<\/p>\n Tim Montgomerie – another Conservative backer who switched to Reform – told the BBC’s Newsnight programme that Sir Jake was “one of the most efficient organisers in the Conservative Party – exactly what my new party needs”.<\/p>\n “It is not the most well-organised party at the moment,” he added.<\/p>\n He said there would be “bigger” defections to come that would “rock the Conservative Party”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n