On Tuesday morning 18 Tory councillors defected to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party on the third day of the Conservative conference.
Since March this year eight Tory councillor defected and on Tuesday morning a further 18 have fled Kemi Badenoch’s party.
Badenoch shrugged of the defections saying the party is “shedding a lot of baggage of the last 14-years.”
Speaking to ITV Badenoch said, “Just last year, we had MPs jumping to Labour because Labour was doing well in the polls. They’re not doing so well now.
There are some people who will leave because all they want to do is win elections. They don’t know what they’re winning the elections for.
Defending the defections Badenoch told LBC’s Nick Ferrari, “I remember last year we had people defecting to Labour because Labour was doing well in the polls.
Now we have people defecting to reform because Reform is doing well in the polls. We need people who are in our party for the right reasons.
“People who are in our party for the right reasons. Reform wants to increase welfare. Reform wants nationalisation.
“Those are not conservative policies. We are the only party of fiscal responsibility. And what I do know is that things are going to improve, but we need to build from the right foundations.
“I’m an engineer. We don’t do things in engineering just by talking them out. You make sure you have a plan, you.
You think it through and it is not yet time for a general election. I am very sorry that some people believe that they cannot wait.
But I need to do right by my party and more importantly, by this country, by getting it right. And I will not be rushed into making mistakes.”
