Suella Braverman gave a confusing answer when she was asked if a by-election should be held in her constituency following her defection.
On Monday, Braverman became the latest Tory to opt for a lighter shade of blue as she jumped ship to Reform.
The former home secretary came in the wake of Robert Jenrick and Andrew Rosindell and becomes Reform’s eighth sitting MP in the House of Commons.
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But the defections of sitting MPs has sparked calls for by-elections to be called, given that they now represent a different party with different policies to the one they did when they were voted in by the public.
This is something Nigel Farage called for as recently as 2022, but funnily enough he’s changed his tune now.
When Braverman was asked about the possibility of a by-election in her consituency, the Fareham and Waterlooville MP said she ‘believes in by-elections, definitely.’
Despite this, Braverman then immediately ruled out one taking place in her constituency, with her justification seeming to be that Reform are top of the polls.
She continued: “If I were leaving the Labour Party to go to the Conservatives, or government to go to the opposition, I think there’s a very strong case there for a by-election.
“But as you heard, I spent the last general election apologising for being a Conservative, and I believe that I won that seat despite wearing a Conservative rosette, not because of it.”
Braverman claimed the “people of Fareham and Waterlooville will have a more authentic member of parliament who can speak in alignment with her party” following her defection.
Of course, something else that might be swaying Braverman to not call a by-election is the fact that the Reform candidate finished fourth in her seat at the last general election.