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Suella Braverman quits Conservatives, joins Reform UK
Braverman becomes the third sitting Conservative lawmaker to defect to Reform UK in just over a week
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Malvika Choudhary - Mon, 26, Jan 2026
- 13:09 EST
- 21
Suella Braverman / X (Reform UK)
Indian-origin Conservative MP and former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman has quit the Conservative Party to join Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, marking a high-profile defection from the opposition benches.
The announcement was made at a Reform UK rally in London, where Braverman said she was resigning both the Conservative whip and her party membership of 30 years.
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In her own words, Suella Braverman lays out her reasons for joining Reform UK. pic.twitter.com/sqMnnaKsCE
— Reform UK (@reformparty_uk) January 26, 2026
“I resign the Conservative whip and my party membership, a party membership of 30 years, it’s gone, it’s over today… and because I believe with my heart and soul that a better future is possible for us, I am joining Reform UK,” Braverman said.
She said she would “sit as the Member of Parliament for Fareham and Waterlooville, representing this great party, Reform UK, with immediate effect.”
Braverman becomes the third sitting Conservative lawmaker to defect to Reform UK in just over a week and the fourth senior Conservative figure to leave the party since the 2024 general election.
While Braverman acknowledged that her decision would be difficult for some in her constituency, she added that she had not “taken this decision lightly.” She also told supporters, “I feel like I’ve come home.”
Braverman has been a Member of Parliament since 2015. She previously served as attorney general under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and later as Home Secretary under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
As home secretary, she was a leading advocate of the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda and was known for her hardline positions on immigration and law and order.
Her time in government was marked by repeated controversies, and she was eventually sacked in a cabinet reshuffle in 2023 before returning to the backbenches, where she warned that the Conservatives faced “electoral oblivion” without tougher policies on immigration.
There had been speculation for months that Braverman could defect to Reform UK, given her ideological proximity to the party and her past praise for Farage’s political appeal.
Her defection follows recent moves by other Conservative figures, including Robert Jenrick and Andrew Rosindell, as Reform UK seeks to consolidate support on the right of British politics.
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