The More In Common polling found seven out of 10 Conservative voters would not vote for their MP if they switched to Reform.

Mrs Badenoch last week sacked Mr Jenrick hours before a press conference where Mr Farage welcomed him to the ranks of Reform. She said Mr Farage had done her “spring cleaning” for her.

On Sunday night, Romford MP Andrew Rosindell announced with “sorrow” that he was leaving the Conservatives in protest at the Tories’ response to Labour handing sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

When it comes to who represents the Right today in British politics, 35% say Reform with 29% naming the Conservatives.

Among Tory voters, 84% say Mrs Badenoch handled the sacking of Mr Jenrick well, with just 2% saying she managed it badly.

She will be encouraged that her net approval ratings – while still in negative territory – are better than Mr Farage’s for the first time in more than a year. She is -11, the highest since December 2024, while Mr Farage is on -13.

Respondents to the polling were three times more likely to say that Mr Jenrick’s sacking reflected well (34%) than badly (11%) on Kemi Badenoch. This contrasts with 14% saying the incident reflects well on Mr Jenrick, with 37% claiming it reflects poorly.

Fewer than one in four Britons (24%) think Conservatives are switching to Reform out of principle because they believe in the party’s policies.

However, 72% of Reform voters would be happy to move for a candidate for Mr Farage’s party if he or she had previously been a Tory MP.

The polling also identifies some of the biggest challenges for the Labour, Conservative and Reform leaders. Respondents were presented with 19 words and asked to choose three which described each leader.

For Sir Keir Starmer, the top three responses were “weak” (36%), “out-of-touch” (33%) and incompetent (31%).

In a sign that Mrs Badenoch has yet to make an impression with many voters, nearly three out of 10 (29%) said they did not know enough about her to choose three words. But 22% opted for “intelligent”, 18% for “out-of-touch” and 17% for “professional”.

Mr Farage also had a mixed bag of responses, including“dishonest” (27%), “patriotic” (24%) and “divisive” (23%).

Nick Dickinson, an expert on politics at the University of Exeter, commented on the defections, saying that “moments of fracture” can “reshape British politics for generations”.

He said: “British politics has always been punctuated by moments of dramatic realignment and defections are a tradition stretching back over three centuries. But we may be in the early stages of another great realignment, and we are certainly living through the most volatile period for party loyalty in British history.”

Politico’s poll of polls highlights the threat Reform poses to the Conservatives. it puts Mr Farage’s party on first place (28%), far ahead of the Tories (18%), Labour (17%), the Greens (14%) and the Liberal Democrats (13%).

Meanwhile, in the Welsh Parliament, James Evans has been kicked out of the Tory group because of suspicions he was plotting to join Reform.

Mr Evans, who represents Brecon and Radnorshire, lost his role as shadow cabinet secretary for health and social care and had the Conservative whip withdrawn.

Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar said: “I took the decision to remove James Evans from the Welsh Conservative shadow cabinet and withdraw the Conservative whip. I did so after being informed by James that he was continuing to engage with Reform representatives about the possibility of defecting to the party, in spite of his personal assurances on Friday that he had rejected an approach they initiated last week.”

Reform has one member of the Welsh Parliament. Ex-Tory Laura Anne Jones defected to Reform in July.

Ed Hodgson of More in Common commented on the significance of the latest polling, saying: “The news about Robert Jenrick’s defection has done little to stop the bounce that Badenoch is currently enjoying; she has reached the highest approval numbers since she first became leader, and this is the first time she has polled higher than Nigel Farage. With half the country saying Badenoch handled Jenrick’s departure well, the shock exit probably went about as well for the Conservatives as any high-profile defection could have gone.

“That said, the Conservatives should be careful assuming that Reform voters will be put off if their party becomes ‘too full’ of former Tories because 72% of Reform voters say they’d be happy voting for a former Tory MP turned Reform candidate.”