Twenty Conservative councillors have left Kemi Badenoch’s leadership to join Nigel Farage’s Reform Party, just a day after a YouGov poll revealed that half of Tory members do not want Badenoch to lead them into the next general election.
The latest defections, which took place on Tuesday, follow eight similar departures in March. Some Conservative MPs have also previously crossed over to Labour.
Responding to the wave of defections, Badenoch downplayed the situation in an interview with ITV, saying the Conservatives were “shedding baggage” from the past 14 years. She noted that while some members defected to Labour when it was polling strongly, “they’re not doing so well now,” adding that some people “only care about winning elections, not about what they’re winning for.”
According to Monday’s YouGov poll, 50% of Conservative Party members oppose Badenoch continuing as leader, while 46% support her. The same survey found that 46% of members prefer Robert Jenrick whom Badenoch narrowly defeated for the leadership compared to 39% who still back her.
