Suella Braverman has suggested she might be ‘driven out’ the Tories like ’30p’ Lee Anderson as she heaped praise on Reform UK.
The ex-home secretary, who has scrapped her bid to be Conservative leader, claimed Nigel Farage‘s party would do ‘better’ at the next general election.
She warned the performance of Reform at last month’s poll, when they won five seats, should ‘alarm’ the Tories and hit out at ‘complacency’ among her colleagues.
The former Cabinet minister has left Westminster wondering about her political future after she abandoned an effort to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader.
She claimed she had the required support of 10 Tory MPs to enter the race, but admitted not enough of her the party agreed with her call for a shift to the Right.
Speaking to GB News, Mrs Braverman insisted she was ‘not going to defect to Reform’ as she dismissed persistent rumours she might make the switch.
But the Fareham and Waterlooville MP pointed to the example of Mr Anderson and added: ‘I hope I’m not driven out to Reform by my colleagues.’
Suella Braverman has suggested she might be ‘driven out’ the Tories like ’30p’ Lee Anderson as she heaped praise on Reform UK
The ex-home secretary, who has scrapped her bid to be Conservative leader, claimed Nigel Farage ‘s party would do ‘better’ at the next general election
Mr Anderson, a former Conservative Party deputy chairman, was stripped of the Tory whip in February for refusing to apologise for comments about Sadiq Khan
Mr Anderson, a former Conservative Party deputy chairman, was stripped of the Tory whip in February for refusing to apologise for comments about Sadiq Khan.
The Ashfield MP claimed ‘Islamists’ had ‘got control’ of the London mayor and said Mr Khan had ‘given our capital city away to his mates’.
Following the fierce row over his ‘Islamophobic’ remarks, Mr Anderson joined Reform and was re-elected to his Nottinghamshire seat for his new party on 4 July.
Mrs Braverman said: ‘I look at Lee Anderson, Lee Anderson’s a good friend of mine and it’s a tragedy that we lost him to Reform.
‘He is someone who speaks with an authentic voice that resonates with a lot of people in Britain. He’s someone who was very brave, incredibly dedicated.
‘And that we lost him, that our Conservative Party could not be the broad church, we talk about our broad church, well we weren’t broad enough for Lee Anderson.
‘He should be sitting as a Conservative Member of Parliament.
‘We should have more Conservative MPs because Reform should not have been the force that it was, and many of our MPs lost because of Reform.
‘We talk about a broad church. We should not be hounding out Conservatives, right-wingers, Eurosceptics, people who want to stand up for our flag and our faith.
‘As if they are somehow ‘swivel-eyed loons’… Lee Anderson should be a Conservative MP.’
Mrs Braverman, who previously stood for the Tory leadership in 2022, also told the TV channel she had given up on ever becoming Tory leader.
‘I won’t put myself forward again. I’m very happy, I’ve had a go,’ she said.
Asked how well Reform might perform at the next general election, scheduled for 2029, she replied: ‘I am absolutely confident that Reform can do better.
‘It’s very hard to put a number on it, but they came second in many, many places…that should alarm the Conservatives.
‘They came second in a lot of Labour-held seats, they are eating into the Labour vote. They took more of the under-30 vote than we did.
‘Young people are voting more for Reform than they are for the Conservatives. These facts alone should seriously alarm any Conservative leader and all Conservative MPs.
‘I’m just concerned that there’s still a level of complacency.’
Quizzed about the possibility of Mr Farage being welcomed into the Tories, she said: ‘I don’t know what form it would take, but then the fact is that there is no there is not enough room in British politics for two conservative parties.
‘Reform and the Conservatives cannot co-exist in the way that they are.
‘We will have no chance of winning the next general election as long as Reform is a viable alternative.’
• The full interview will be aired on GB News from 8pm tonight
