Former health minister Maria Caulfield has become the latest senior Conservative to defect to Reform UK, joining Nigel Farage's party a month ago. Caulfield, who lost her Lewes seat to the Liberal Democrats in the last election, announced the move a day after sitting Tory MP Danny Kruger also switched sides.
Caulfield told GB News: 'If you are Conservative right-minded, then the future is Reform. The country is going to change a lot.' She criticised her former party, saying: 'I have not changed but the party has become less and less what I believe in. We let people down over what Brexit meant on laws, money and borders.'
The defection is another blow to the Conservatives, who have seen a series of senior figures leave in recent months. Kruger, the shadow work and pensions minister, was appointed Reform's head of 'preparing for government' after his defection on Monday. He said: 'The Conservative party is over. Over as a national party, over as the principal opposition to the left.'
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch acknowledged the loss, telling GB News: 'Every leader regrets losing people to another party.' She suggested others could leave due to her emphasis on fiscal discipline and welfare cuts, adding: 'When a party has just had a historic defeat, we will have a very tough and bumpy time before we come back up again.'
Caulfield, who served as a junior health minister and Tory vice-chair, said she could seek to return as an MP with Reform, stating: 'I will see what happens.' Reform is cautious about accepting too many former Conservatives but values their government experience.
