Another one bites the dust. Now it transpires that the former Conservative MP for Dudley North, Marco Longhi, has defected to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party ahead of its regional conference in Leicester this evening. How very interesting.
The ex-Tory announced his move this afternoon, lauding the Farage-founded group – which he dubbed ‘the People’s Army’ – and gushing that he is ‘now truly at home with Reform UK’. Reflecting on his time with the Tory lot, Longhi admitted: ‘My loyalty to party leaders started to overshadow my loyalty to you, the people.’
Going on to bash the Conservatives, Longhi fumed:
The Conservative Party I once identified with—the party of Churchill and Thatcher—has transformed into something unrecognizable, captured by a left-wing influence that masquerades as conservatism at election time while prioritizing the wishes of an elite few when in power. In recent years it has repeatedly betrayed your trust and Labour have never earned that trust in the first place.
I refuse to be part of this ‘uniparty drift’ towards an ever more left-wing agenda. If I am fortunate enough to represent peopleagain, I will not shy away from the hard truths and necessary actions. My commitment to the people was evident when I represented Dudley before and it will remain the same if re-elected.
Strong stuff. It comes after a new MRP poll suggests Labour could lose votes to Reform over the issue of immigration, with the survey predicting Farage’s party could win 120 seats at the next election. Longhi follows former Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns, onetime ConservativeHome founder Tim Montgomerie and ex-Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s husband. Who will be next? Stay tuned…
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