A “major” Conservative Party player has joined Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, saying the gap between what the Tories promised and what it delivered “pushed him over the edge”.
Tim Montgomerie, the founder of ConservativeHome and ex-Boris Johnson adviser, became the latest high-profile figure to join the burgeoning populist party on Tuesday afternoon after 33 years as a Tory member.
Images released by Reform UK showed Montgomerie – labelled a “major player in Tory politics” in the past – smiling with Nigel Farage and party chairman Zia Yusuf – with Rupert Lowe welcoming the party’s latest member minutes later.
It comes just days after former Conservative Minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns made the switch – becoming Reform’s 100,000th member on Thursday last week.
Introducing Jenkyns, Farage told supporters that she was “extraordinary” and has “every chance of winning” the new Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire role – with an election date pencilled in for May 1 next year.
Speaking to GB News following the announcement, Jenkyns said she was now “home” – and is more “politically aligned” with the beliefs of Reform UK.
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