The bombshell defection of former top Tory Sir Jake Berry to Reform is just the start, according to a senior Reform politician. Dame Andrea Jenkyns, who is herself an ex-Conservative MP and now the Reform Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, said: “We’ve got more to come as well.”

It raises the prospect of a steady stream of defections causing a nightmare for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, showing Reform has momentum while allowing Reform leader Nigel Farage to argue that the Conservatives are finished as a party. As well as Sir Jake and Dame Andrea, former Tory Welsh Secretary David Jones joined Reform earlier this year.

Dame Andrea said: “I’ve known a while that Jake was coming over. I’ve had conversations myself, and I was very proud to see David Jones come over.”

Sir Jake was a staunch supporter of Boris Johnson and backed Mr Johnson’s campaign to become Conservative leader in 2019. He was the Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and Mr Johnson upgraded the role, and asked Sir Jake to attend Cabinet meetings.

Sir Jake quit the Government in 2020 and led the Northern Research Group, an independent group of Conservative MPs in the north. He then returned to the Cabinet as party chair in 2022.

His defection to Reform is a particular blow to the Conservatives because he is seen as one of the Tories who understood the concerns of voters in “red wall” communities.

Sir Jake Berry said: “For 25 years, I was proud to call myself a Conservative. Fourteen of those years, I served as an MP. I even sat at the Cabinet table twice. I believed in it. I gave it everything. Because I believed politics could still make this country better. But let’s not kid ourselves. Britain is broken. It didn’t start with Labour. The Conservative governments I was part of share the blame.

“We now have a tax system that punishes hard work and ambition. Just this week, we saw record numbers of our brightest and best people leaving Britain because they can’t see a future here. At the same time, our benefits system is pulling in the world’s poor with no plan for integration and no control over who comes in.

“If you were deliberately trying to wreck the country, you’d be hard-pressed to do a better job than the last two decades of Labour and Tory rule.

“Millions of people, just like me, want a country they can be proud of again. The only way we get that is with Reform in government. That’s why I’ve resigned from the Conservative Party. I’m now backing Reform UK and working to make them the next party of government.

“And with Nigel Farage leading Reform, we’ve got someone the country can actually trust. He doesn’t change his views to fit the mood of the day. And people respect that. So do I. That’s why I believe he should be our next Prime Minister.

“If we want to fix this country, it’s time to be bold again. It’s time to believe again. It’s time for Reform.”