Kemi Badenoch was pummelled with a slew of councillor defections to Reform today as she insisted there will be no deal with Nigel Farage.
The insurgents have been dripping out the names of switchers this morning as Mrs Badenoch tries to rally her troops at the annual conference in Manchester.
So-called ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’ is designed to emphasise the change in the balance of power on the political Right. Mr Farage said the 20 defectors showed the Conservatives are ‘finished’.
‘This morning we announced that 20 Conservative Councillors have defected to Reform UK. The Conservative Party is finished,’ he said.
But touring broadcast studios this morning, Mrs Badenoch insisted the conference was going well and played down a poll suggesting nearly two-thirds of members would support an electoral pact.
She said she would stand aside if there was anyone who could do the party’s top job better – arguing she was making ‘sacrifices’ to stay at the helm.
Mrs Badenoch also dismissed mockery of empty seats at the conference, insisting activists were in good spirits.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp tried to shrug off the defections.
‘Nigel Farage was boasting about MP defections during our conference, which has not happened,’ he said.
‘So I don’t think we can worry too much about what Reform may be saying.
‘Reform don’t have properly thought-out ideas.’
Earlier, Mrs Badenoch told Times Radio: ‘We need to turn our country around, and we’re the only party that can deliver that stronger economy and stronger borders that this conference is about.
‘If I thought someone else could do it, then I’d be taking a step back. I think that I’m the right person and I’m the best person.’
Mrs Badenoch said she was ‘making a sacrifice’ by not seeing her children ‘as much as I would like’ because ‘this job is really important’.
She said it was ‘slightly heartbreaking’ that her children told her they wish she worked at McDonald’s instead of running the Tories.
A poll released yesterday showed half of Conservative members thought Mrs Badenoch should not lead the party into the next general election.
The YouGov survey found 46 per cent thought Mrs Badenoch should stay in charge, while 50 per cent thought she should not.
It also showed 64 per cent supported an electoral pact with Reform.
Andrew Rosindell, the Conservative MP for Romford and a shadow foreign minister, yesterday urged his party to work with Reform to avoid the ‘calamity’ of another Labour government.
The Tory leader was grilled about the pressure – after ex-Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg warned the Conservatives could not ‘split the right’ and win an election.
But she said: ‘I’m not splitting the right. There is no deal to be done with Reform.
‘They want to increase welfare. This conference is about living within our means. That’s how we get a stronger economy. They want to nationalise.
‘What kind of alliance are we having with them?
‘The only thing that they have in common with us, really, is around immigration. We know that we need stronger borders, but we’ve got a plan that will work.
‘Their plan, which was copied from some announcements, I think, that we made previously – they hadn’t done the details behind it.’
Asked about the latest defections, Mrs Badenoch told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘I’m always very sorry to lose people from the party, but as you can see from this conference, we are changing the Conservative Party talking about a stronger economy, stronger borders.
‘Reform is a party that wants to spend more on welfare. We know there’s some Conservatives who agree with those policies, on increased welfare, on nationalisation and if that’s what they think is right for them, then we’re sorry to lose them.
‘But we need to make it very clear that we are the party of fiscal responsibility.’
She added: ‘Just last year, we had MPs jumping to Labour because Labour was doing well in the polls. They’re not doing so well now.
‘There are some people who will leave because all they want to do is win elections. They don’t know what they’re winning the elections for.
‘We are making it very clear what we are doing this for. It is for the people of the United Kingdom. We want to give them a stronger economy. We want to give them stronger borders.
‘We’re the only party tough enough and competent enough to do both. It’s going to be a long journey back from a historic defeat and on very long, difficult journeys you will lose some people on the way. But if these people cannot stick with us because opposition is difficult, then they’re not going to be able to stick with us when government gets difficult.’
She told LBC Radio: ‘The last oppositions were 14, 13, 18 years. I’ve been doing the job 11 months.
‘This conference is where we are showing the direction of travel: a stronger economy, stronger borders and that we’re the only party tough enough and competent enough to deliver both.’
Asked why her party was losing supporters, Mrs Badenoch added: ‘What we are doing is shedding a lot of the baggage of the last 14 years.
‘I remember last year we had people defecting to Labour because Labour was doing well in the polls. Now we have people defecting to Reform because Reform is doing well in the polls.
‘We need people who are in our party for the right reasons.’
