I could have left Britain like lots of my friends... but I've decided to stay and fight for my country

SIR JAKE Berry says Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch would struggle to sleep if she knew how many MPs in her party have been in touch with him.

- By David Williamson CHIEF POLITICAL COMMENTATOR

The former Tory chairman is now working to make Nigel Farage the next Prime Minister after defecting to Reform UK last month.

And the father of three warns communities across Britain are fracturing and the country will alter beyond recognition without “radical change”.

The 46-year-old’s switch to Reform UK was a coup for Mr Farage and his ferociously ambitious team. Sir Jake had been a key ally of Boris Johnson and a champion of levelling-up who served as minister for the Northern Powerhouse.

Having spent years in the engine room of successive Conservative administrations, he now argues Mr Farage has “what it takes” to tackle the North-South divide.

Sir Jake says that after losing the Lancashire constituency he had held since 2010 in last summer’s election, he found himself “really scared and worried” about the country in which his children are growing up. He identifies crime, a loss of control of Britain’s borders and high taxation as three key concerns.

“We have a society in decline,” he says. “But what I decided is decline isn’t the same thing as destiny.”

Sir Jake ruled out leaving the UK: “I had a choice. I could, like lots of my friends, leave the country but I love Britain. I love living here.

“So the choice I’ve made is [to support] Reform, by helping Nigel Farage with the hope he will become our next Prime Minister. I have decided to stay and fight for Britain.”

He had given up any hope of influencing the Tories from outside after, as he puts it, spending nearly “one and a half decades” of his life trying to point the party in a new direction.

“They wouldn’t listen when I was in Parliament,” he says. “They definitely are never going to listen when I’m outside Parliament.”

Former Conservative comrades reacted to his defection with “a bit of anger”, “a little bit of sorrow” and above all, he says curiosity.