Suella Braverman Defects To Reform UK Amid Political Upheaval

On Monday, January 26, 2026, British politics was rocked by the defection of Suella Braverman, the former Home Secretary, from the Conservative Party to Reform UK—an anti-immigration party led by the ever-controversial Nigel Farage. Her move marks another dramatic chapter in an already tumultuous period for the United Kingdom’s political landscape, as the once-dominant Conservatives continue to hemorrhage high-profile members to their hard-right rivals.

Braverman, who had been a member of the Conservative Party for three decades, announced her resignation at a Reform UK event for veterans in London, declaring, “I resigned the Conservative whip and my party membership, my party membership of 30 years. It’s gone. It’s over today.” According to coverage by BBC, she told the crowd, “I feel like I’ve come home.” Her words echoed a deep sense of disillusionment with her former party and a belief that the country stands at a crossroads.

Her departure is more than just a personal decision; it’s part of a wave. Braverman is the third senior Conservative to defect to Reform UK in less than a month, following Robert Jenrick on January 15 and former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, who is no longer a lawmaker. With Braverman’s addition, Reform UK now boasts eight MPs in the House of Commons, a modest number compared to the Conservatives’ 116 seats, but one that carries outsized influence given the current political climate.

Braverman’s reasons for leaving the Conservatives were blunt and scathing. She lambasted the party for what she called “managed decline to weakness and surrender,” and accused it of betraying its promises. “I’m calling time. I’m calling time on Tory betrayal. I’m calling time on Tory lies. I’m calling time on a party that keeps making promises with zero intention of keeping them,” she declared, as reported by The Guardian. She further criticized the party’s stance on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), calling their current promise to leave the ECHR “a lie.” Braverman maintained that her advocacy for leaving the ECHR led to her being “sacked” and “punished for telling the truth.”

Her rhetoric didn’t stop there. Braverman painted a bleak picture of Britain under the current political establishment: “Britain is indeed broken. She is suffering. She is not well. Immigration is out of control. Our public services are on their knees. People don’t feel safe. Our youngsters are leaving the country for better futures elsewhere. We can’t even defend ourselves, and our nation stands weak and humiliated on the world stage.”

Braverman’s criticism of her former party is not new. She was dismissed as Home Secretary in November 2023 by then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after a series of controversial remarks, including calling migration a “hurricane” heading for Britain, describing homelessness as a “lifestyle choice,” and accusing police of being too lenient with pro-Palestinian protesters whom she labeled “hate marchers.” According to The Associated Press, critics argued that her rhetoric contributed to heightened tensions and even violence when far-right protesters clashed with police during a major pro-Palestinian march in London.

Following her sacking, Braverman didn’t hold back. She publicly condemned Sunak for what she described as “equivocation, disregard and a lack of interest” on key policies, especially regarding immigration. She also denounced as a “betrayal” Sunak’s decision not to withdraw from the ECHR, a move she believed would have facilitated the government’s controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. These criticisms resonated with Reform UK’s base, which is fiercely anti-immigration and skeptical of international legal constraints.

Braverman’s defection comes at a time when Reform UK is riding high in the polls. For the past year, the party has led both the governing Labour Party and the Conservatives by double-digit margins, according to recent polling cited by Reuters. This surge comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government faces mounting criticism over immigration, a stagnant economy, and a persistent cost-of-living crisis. Reform UK’s momentum was evident in the 2025 local elections in England, where it won the most seats, and it is now hoping to make major gains in the upcoming May 2026 local elections, including for the parliaments in Scotland and Wales.

The migration issue remains at the heart of the debate. In 2025, a staggering 41,472 migrants made the perilous journey across the English Channel to England’s southern coast—the second-highest annual total since records began in 2018. Braverman and Reform UK have seized on these numbers as evidence that the current approach is failing. “Immigration is out of control. Our public services are on their knees. People don’t feel safe,” Braverman told the Reform event, echoing the party’s core message.

Reform UK’s leader, Nigel Farage, has welcomed Braverman’s arrival, despite previously criticizing her record as Home Secretary. “I think she’s reached the view that actually the center-right of British politics needs to unify around Reform,” Farage said, as reported by Sky News. He acknowledged that Braverman is now willing to admit her former party “got it wrong.” Braverman, in turn, praised Farage as “the only man in British politics who has been courageously consistent for his country.”

The Conservative Party, for its part, has tried to downplay the significance of Braverman’s defection. In a statement, the party noted that Braverman failed to garner enough support to run for party leadership two years ago and pointed out that Farage had initially said he didn’t want her in his party. “It was always a matter of when, not if, Suella would defect,” the statement read, as cited by The Times.

Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley was even more scathing, blaming Braverman and Farage for presiding over years of chaos and decline. “Nigel Farage is stuffing his party full of the failed Tories responsible for the chaos and decline that held Britain back for 14 years,” Turley said, according to BBC. The Labour Party itself is not immune to internal strife, having recently blocked Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham—seen by some as a potential rival to Starmer—from standing as an MP in a key northwestern constituency, sparking reports of a “civil war” within the party. Starmer, however, dismissed these reports and insisted that the real contest was between Labour and Reform, calling it the “battle of our times.”

As Britain heads toward crucial local elections in May and with a general election due by August 2029, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The country’s political center of gravity appears to be shifting, and Braverman’s defection is both a symptom and an accelerant of that change. Whether Reform UK’s surge will translate into lasting power remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the era of predictable British politics is well and truly over.