The audience of BBC Question Time erupted in laughter on Thursday night after a viewer described Reform UK as nothing more than a 'care home for old Tories'. The remark came as the panel discussed the recent wave of defections from the Conservative Party to Reform UK, including former Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
Labour Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander echoed the sentiment, saying: 'I get why people call them a retirement home for former failed Conservatives.' He added that the party represented 'a politics of hatred, division and polarisation', referencing what he called racist adverts run by Reform against Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
The audience member who made the original jibe asked: 'How can anyone think Reform are a party of change when they only appear to be a care home for old Tories?' The comment drew laughter from the studio audience in King's Lynn, Norfolk, while Conservative MP James Cartlidge smiled wryly.
Suella Braverman, who became Reform UK's eighth MP this week, accused her former party of having 'no courage, no backbone, no resolve'. She told a rally in London that Britain was 'broken' and that 'immigration is out of control'. Her defection followed those of Robert Jenrick, Nadhim Zahawi, and Andrew Rosindell.
