Nigel Farage has landed a major scalp as he seeks to revive the momentum in his flagging Reform UK party with the defection of a former Tory chair.
Sir Jake Berry, who chaired the party during Liz Truss’s 49-day premiership and had been a staunch ally of Boris Johnson, has announced in an interview with The Sun that he has joined Reform.
The move is a major blow to Tory leader Kemi Badenoch who had hoped she was turning the corner after a difficult start in the role.
Sir Jake was a renowned campaigner who founded the influential Northern Research Group of Tory MPs before losing his Rossendale and Darwen seat in Lancashire in 2024.
It also comes at a vital time for Reform who had begun to slip in the polls and seen membership dip in recent weeks.
The party had also been hit by a new scandal involving one of its MPs James McMurdock who had resigned the whip and become an independent amid questions over a Covid loan he took during the pandemic which he failed to repay.
Added to that the first two council by-elections Reform had tried to defend had seen them defeated in both.
But Sir Jake is the biggest scalp yet among defectors following other former Tory MPs including Dame Andrea Jenkyns, another ex-Boris Johnson ally who is now mayor of Lincolnshire. Marco Longhi and Ann Marie Morris have also defected.
It comes just days after Reform also revealed that another ex-Tory cabinet minister David Jones had defected to them over Christmas, although he had not wanted to do any publicity on it.
In a video statement Sir Jake said: “Britain is broken. We literally live in a country where you cannot walk down the street with a phone in your hand.
“We have taxes which are so sky high the brightest and best are leaving our country in droves. At the same time we have a benefits system that is bringing the world’s poor to our shores with no control.”
In a blistering attack on his former party, he went on: “I know who broke it because I was there. For 30 years I supported the Conservative Party. For 14 years I was one of their MPs sitting at that cabinet table twice.
“I want to tell you today, I have come to a decision. The old parties do not have what it takes to transform our country, to build a Britain we can believe in again. That’s why I have decided to join the Reform Party.”
He added: “It is only Reform and Nigel Farage who can deliver a Britain we can be proud of again.”
He said he could “trust” Farage and would “spend every day” to ensure that he forms the next government.
A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “Reform support increasing the benefits bill by removing the two-child cap, and nationalising British industry. By contrast the Conservatives, under new leadership, will keep making the case for sound money, lower taxes and bringing the welfare bill under control. We wish Jake well in his new high spend, high tax party.”
A Tory source added. “Ex-MP Jake was briefly party chair under Liz Truss, voted Remain, and is passionate about net zero. He’s had more positions than the karma sutra, and is now living proof that Reform will take anyone… until they eventually chuck them out.”
