Paranoid Conservative MPs Are Wary Of Losing Members To Reform UK

Conservative MPs are becoming increasingly paranoid about losing party activists and members to Reform UK after prominent former Tory MP Lee Anderson defected to the right wing party this week.

Lee Anderson, a former Conservative deputy party chairman, is now Reform's only MP sitting in the House of Commons. 

Last month he was suspended from the Tory Party for suggesting London mayor Sadiq Khan was being controlled by "Islamists". On Monday Anderson told a press conference he had been talking to Reform “for a while” about joining, and claimed he had received 4,000 emails from people across the country urging him to do so.

Paranoia has set in amongst Tory MPs, with many noticing they are receiving fewer messages from their colleagues on their WhatsApp group chats. One MP claimed they had not heard a “squeak” from MPs because the admins feared that any message could leak to the media. 

Another Tory MP added that the silence reflected the sense of impending doom around the next election – particularly with the strong and growing threat of Reform.

“It is more gloom than not caring about Lee, I think,” they said.

While Conservative MPs appear less worried about the possibility of any more of their parliamentary colleagues crossing the floor of the Commons, there is a growing concern that Anderson’s decision to defect could still have influence on the wider party loyalty and lead to activists and members. There has long been concern that Tory voters could choose Reform instead.

One minister told PoliticsHome they would not be surprised if more party members left associations like theirs to join Reform. They said it was now up to the party and leadership to get the message out that voting for Reform would lead to a Labour Government