On September 16, 2025, the British political landscape took another dramatic turn as former Conservative minister Maria Caulfield publicly announced her defection to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party. Caulfield, who served as the Member of Parliament for Lewes for nearly a decade and held several junior ministerial roles, including as a health minister and minister for women, became the latest in a string of high-profile former Tories to jump ship. Her decision, revealed in a series of interviews and confirmed by Reform UK, immediately sent ripples through Westminster and beyond.
Caulfield’s move is part of a growing trend of Conservative defections that has left party leader Kemi Badenoch facing mounting internal pressure. The timing couldn’t have been more pointed: just a day earlier, Danny Kruger, a sitting Conservative MP and shadow work and pensions minister, announced his own defection to Reform UK, where he will now lead the party’s preparations for government. The back-to-back announcements have left many in the Conservative Party reeling, with some openly questioning the party’s direction and resilience in the aftermath of its historic 2024 general election defeat.
Speaking to GB News, Caulfield didn’t mince words about her motivations. “If you are Conservative right-minded, then the future is Reform. The country is going to change a lot,” she declared. “The same people who thought that Brexit would not happen think that Reform will not happen. They are in for a shock.” She added, “I have joined. My husband joined a few months ago and I joined a month ago.”
For Caulfield, the split with the Conservatives was not a sudden decision. She explained that she had watched the party become, in her view, “less and less what I believe in.” As she told GB News, “I am sad for the Conservative Party. I could see that 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. We took back control but we did not do anything about it. Reform is about changing the system – they won’t change unless they do it differently.”
Her resignation is especially notable given her background. Caulfield is a former nurse who entered Parliament in 2015 and quickly rose through the ranks. She was appointed to the Department for Health under Boris Johnson in 2021, took a brief hiatus during Liz Truss’s short-lived premiership, and returned under Rishi Sunak as minister for mental health and women’s health. Her advocacy for Brexit was well known—she resigned as Tory vice chair in 2018 to protest then-Prime Minister Theresa May’s Chequers deal, arguing that it failed to seize the opportunities of leaving the EU.
Yet, despite her loyalty to certain Conservative causes, Caulfield’s relationship with the party soured after her defeat in the 2024 general election. She lost her Lewes seat to the Liberal Democrats, with her vote share plummeting by almost 22%. The sting of that loss, combined with her dissatisfaction over the party’s trajectory, set the stage for her eventual move to Reform UK. She is now the 15th former Tory MP to join the party, according to BBC, though some outlets have cited the number as 13.
The reaction from Conservative leadership has been a mix of disappointment and defiance. Kemi Badenoch, the current Tory leader, admitted on September 16 that her party is experiencing a "tough and bumpy time." She told broadcasters, “Conservatives are the only party that are talking about how we need to deliver a stronger economy, living within our means, cutting welfare spending. We have got a plan to start getting growth back – Labour do not, and Reform are merely focused on Westminster bubble issues about who is in which party. That’s not going to make life better for all the people out there.”
Badenoch conceded that any leader would regret losing members to another party and acknowledged that more could leave “because they don’t like the new policies,” such as her emphasis on “no more lavish spending” and welfare cuts. “When a party has just had a historic defeat, we will have a very tough and bumpy time before we come back up again,” she said.
Meanwhile, the opposition and former colleagues have not held back in their criticism. James MacCleary, the Liberal Democrat who unseated Caulfield in Lewes, argued that her defection demonstrates Farage’s lack of concern for the National Health Service. “Rather than offering solutions to the problems our country faces, Reform seems to be welcoming in the people that were responsible for causing them in the first place,” MacCleary told BBC.
Reform UK, for its part, sees the influx of experienced former ministers as a much-needed boost. The party, which has often been criticized for its lack of government experience, is keen to project itself as a serious contender for power. Danny Kruger, now Reform’s head of “preparing for government,” was effusive in his praise for the new direction. “The Conservative Party is over. Over as a national party, over as the principal opposition to the left,” Kruger said at a press conference, according to The Guardian. He encouraged other like-minded Tories to join him, stating, “I would hope that colleagues who share my view about the crisis the country is in and the opportunity that Reform offers to save our country.”
Not everyone is convinced by this narrative, however. Shadow chancellor Mel Stride, speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, dismissed Kruger’s analysis as “profoundly wrong.” He said, “It is certainly the case that we had a devastating defeat about a year ago, that we lost that connection with the electorate, that trust with the electorate, and it is also true that it will take us time to rebuild that. We need to hold our nerve.” Stride insisted that the Conservatives were now holding the government “ruthlessly” to account in an effort to rebuild trust with voters.
Caulfield’s political journey has not been without controversy. Her appointment as minister for women in 2018 sparked backlash from women’s rights groups due to her opposition to decriminalizing abortion. More recently, she spoke in Parliament about the “overwhelming” number of death threats she received as vaccines minister, especially after debates about COVID-19 jabs.
Her defection, along with Kruger’s and others before them—including Nadine Dorries, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, Marco Longhi, and former Tory chair Sir Jake Berry—marks a significant moment for both the Conservative Party and Reform UK. While some see these moves as a sign of Conservative decline, others argue it’s simply the churn of British politics in turbulent times. Reform UK, wary of being seen as a retirement home for ousted Tories, nonetheless recognizes the value of seasoned politicians like Caulfield as it seeks to broaden its appeal and build credibility as a real opposition force.
Whether these high-profile defections signal a lasting realignment on Britain’s right, or merely the latest chapter in a period of post-election soul-searching, remains to be seen. For now, the message from Maria Caulfield and her fellow defectors is clear: they believe the winds of change are blowing, and Reform UK is where they want to set sail.
