Is this Tory party 2.0? Welcoming defectors carries risks for Farage

In the death throes of Boris J ohnson's government in the summer of 2022, Nadhim Zahawi was appointed chancellor by an increasingly desperate prime minister determined to cling on to power.

- Pippa Crerar

The vacancy arose after Rishi Sunak, who had led the Treasury for more than two years, quit and said he no longer had confidence in Johnson to lead the country, setting off-with others - a string of highprofile desertions.

Just over a day later, as ministerial resignations gathered pace to exceed 50, even Zahawi saw the writing on the wall, and called on the prime minister to go. But he stopped short of resigning himself.

His decision, which meant he stayed on at the Treasury for a further two months and was privately branded an opportunist by colleagues, showed just how flexible he was willing to be when it came to his career.

Even Nigel Farage, who announced Zahawi had defected to Reform UK yesterday - the 20th and most senior ex-Conservative MP to do so - said at the time that it showed "all he's interested in is climbing that greasy pole".

Zahawi had sworn he would be a lifelong Tory, posting in 2014: "Been a Conservative all my life and will die a Conservative." Farage has already acknowledged that lack of experience is one of Reform UK's biggest hurdles in looking like a credible party of government. His solution to this appears to lie in enlisting former Tory ministers with more defections rumoured.