Britain's Political Landscape Shifts: High-Profile Defections to Reform UK

Key Defections from the Conservative Party

LONDON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Nigel Farage's right-wing Reform UK party is benefiting from a raft of high-profile defections from the centre-right Conservative party, with Robert Jenrick the biggest name yet to announce he is switching.

Led by the veteran Brexit campaigner, the anti-immigration Reform UK party is currently leading the polls in Britain, positioning itself as a genuine threat to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party, and the Conservatives, who lost a 2024 election after 14 years in power.

Should Reform UK's popularity translate into victory in the next election, likely in 2029, it would upend a political system dominated by Labour and the Conservatives for a century.

Robert Jenrick's Defection

Here is a list of some former Conservatives who have joined Reform UK in the last year.

ROBERT JENRICK

A current member of parliament, Jenrick came second to Kemi Badenoch in the 2024 race to lead the Conservatives. He joined Reform on Thursday, hours after she fired him, saying he was plotting to defect.

Before he switched sides, he had been the Conservatives' justice spokesperson, using that position to build a personal profile on key issues like immigration and crime that many saw as a platform for a future challenge to Badenoch's leadership.

Jenrick, 44, is a qualified lawyer who held several ministerial positions in governments in the late 2010s and early 2020s, including as housing minister from 2019-2021.

Nadhim Zahawi's Move

NADHIM ZAHAWI

Nadhim Zahawi is a former UK finance minister who joined Reform in January 2026, when he was no longer a sitting member of parliament.

His two-month stint as chancellor came during a chaotic period for the Conservatives, and he is best known publicly for driving British efforts to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine.

Zahawi, 58, co-founded the polling company YouGov. He was born in Iraq and came to Britain as a refugee when he was a child.

Danny Kruger's Transition

DANNY KRUGER

Danny Kruger, a current member of parliament, had been a leading Conservative figure until September 2025 when he defected to Reform UK, becoming the first sitting member to do so.

The 51-year-old is a former aide to prime ministers Boris Johnson and David Cameron and had served as welfare spokesperson for the Conservatives until he quit the party.

"This is my tragic conclusion: the Conservative Party is over, over as a national party, over as the principal opposition," he said at the time of his defection.

Nadine Dorries Joins Reform UK

NADINE DORRIES

Nadine Dorries, 68, was culture minister for a year in 2021-2022 when Boris Johnson was prime minister. A best-selling author, she stepped down as a member of parliament in 2023.

She defected to Reform UK in September 2025, when she wrote that her decision had been based on the feeling that "a sense of dread" was spreading across British communities.

"I believe that the only politician who has the answers, the knowledge and the will to deliver is Nigel Farage," she said at the time.

Jake Berry's Shift

JAKE BERRY

Jake Berry lost his parliamentary seat to Labour in 2024. He had served as chair of the Conservative party for a short period in 2022 and had previously been a junior minister in the governments of Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

The 47-year-old defected to Reform in July 2025.

"I've always believed that change comes with challenging the old order, in shaking up the system when it isn't working," he said at the time.

(Reporting by Sarah Young. Editing by Mark Potter)