Tories welcome, but Reform now needs a Labour defector

IT'S been a stellar week for Reform, after it bagged two former Cabinet ministers and Nigel Farage topped polls as the best-performing party leader. Sir Jake Berry, ex-Tory chairman, and David Jones, who was Welsh secretary and a Brexit minister, have both made the leap and Westminster is consumed by who will follow next.

- Sam Lister

But the question Farage is now wrestling with is: “How many Tories is too many Tories?”

Berry and Jones have the sort of experience the insurgent Reform will need if it is to make the transformation from a party of protest to actually governing.

Everyone can see from the mess Sir Keir Starmer and his army of finger-jabbers have got into how hard it is to switch from criticising to doing.

Names of those supposedly being pursued by Reform are swirling around and the knives are out for those who have jumped. One Tory told me they expected more members of the “unreconstructed Liz gang” to switch sides.

The source called this group the “architects of Truss's failed experiment”, who would fit in well with Reform because they “believe in cutting taxes while going on a spending spree”.

“Jake has shown he is in it for himself and will cling on to Farage’s coattails in the desperate hope of making a come back,” the MP added.

Farage has made it clear he will only take Conservatives he believes are genuinely on board with the Reform project and can offer the party something.

But personalities and grudges will also play a part in deciding who is welcomed into the fold.