LIVE: Farage and Braverman Host Post-Defection Press Conference

Suella Braverman is with Nigel Farage in Westminster to face questions from journalists after she defected to Reform earlier today. Expect questions over a by-election, her role in the party, and the Tories’ borked response…

Read Suella’s speech in full below:

This feels like coming home. And I am so grateful for the welcome, the support and the fact that we are on the same mission. For the first time in years I feel part of something I truly have faith in.

As I said today to our veterans our country is broken. And only reform can fix it. That is why I have left the conservatives and joined reform.

I have not taken this decision lightly. I very much understand why there are some people- especially in F&W who have supported me over the years- will be feeling disappointed and upset. I want to say to them: this is not about you. To those local supporters who have confided in me about their frustrations with the CP but who are only staying put because of me, please join me- come to Reform UK. To those who still believe that we should remain loyal to a party that has betrayed them and the country countless times, please listen to why I say its time to say enough is enough. It’s time to put country first.

This is about how we win the fight of our lives to save Britain.

Because the country is in deep peril. Families are struggling to keep bills under control. Businesses are being crippled. Immigration is off the scale. Taxes at an all time high and yet services at an all time low. People don’t feel safe anymore in our cities. Our borders are broken. And our country stands humiliated and weakened around the world.

People are crying out for real change. Or they’re leaving the country.

So we have a choice: more of the same failed consensus or radical, brave leadership. I choose the latter. And the only party that offers that, the solutions for the country and most importantly, the credibility, is reform UK.

I have had enough of Conservative betrayal. Conservative denial. And conservative delusion. They are a party now that is too weak to save themselves, let alone the country.

I understand that being in a political party requires compromise and pragmatism. It also requires loyalty.

But loyalty is a two way street. If the party you joined no longer reflects the values and principles that once was, you should question your allegiance. If the party keeps breaking its promises, you should question your loyalty. And now, too many promises lie in tatters, too much damage has been done and I can no longer trust the conservative party.

The party promised time and again to cut migration. It failed. But that failure was not just incompetence, it was deliberate. As HS I tried so many times to cut migration only to be ignored by the PM, blocked by the Cx and attacked by other Cabinet colleagues. As a result, the numbers soared and only started to come down after I managed to secure the first set of changes in May 2023. Too little too late.  Despite the betrayal I remained loyal.

The party promised to do whatever it takes to stop the boats. As HS I tried so many times to persuade the PM that we needed to leave the ECHR. I was the first conservative minister to call for us to leave the ECHR because I saw how it undermined our national sovereignty and border security. Conservative colleagues generally attacked me and he blocked me. Only one other sitting Tory MP and myself rebelled on the Rwanda Bill because of the ECHR. As a result, the boats kept coming. Yes, the party has adopted my policy 3 years later. But even now it is half-hearted, cautious and half the Tory MPs are dead against it. Even the leader herself didn’t support my policy until a few months ago. When it really mattered- when we had the majority, the chance to do something about it, she sided with the Remainers and opposed. She had to wait for Lord Wolfson to give her permission to change her mind before she caved and copied Reform. That’s not leadership, it’s fear, insincerity and weakness. And despite another great betrayal- I stayed loyal.

The party promised to tackle Islamist extremism. But as HS I told the PM that we needed to ban the hate marches, that the met commissioner was failing the Jewish community and that two tier policing was damaging public confidence. I warned that someone would be killed. I was blocked and ignored. And then I was sacked for speaking the truth. What happened two years later? Jews were murdered in the streets of Britain because of out of control antisemitism and complacent policing. Not one of my conservative ministerial colleagues backed me up- when it mattered. And now they all rush to pontificate about two tier policing. Another great betrayal. Yet I stayed loyal

The party promised to tackle grooming gangs. But as HS, when I spoke about the problem saying that multiculturalism had failed, I was vilified and called islamophobic by my own Conservative colleagues. A great betrayal. Yet I stayed loyal.

The party promised to stop trans in schools. But as HS when I said we needed to scrap the equality act and ban social transitioning in schools, colleagues blocked and criticised me. The result? We still have young people socially transitioning in schools.  Another great betrayal. You get the picture.

At every junction-  when it mattered- when the party had to do the right thing, when it had the power; those in charge chose to do the wrong thing, the weak option. And many of those same people still lead the party today. And I stayed loyal.

So for some years now, I have been out of step with the party. In truth I have felt politically homeless. I have been ashamed of the party. It is why I spent the 2024 General Election campaign apologising to local voters and asking them to vote for me, despite my party. It is why I was the first conservative mp re-elected in 2024 to apologise for the failures.

It is impossible to defend the party’s record in office or even to believe in its policy for the future. The people, the instincts, the factions are the same.

But now is the time acknowledge a deeper truth about the Conservative Party. Much more important than any personal attacks or friction.

Conflict and debate is normal in politics. The battle between right and left has been there for decades. The wets and the Thatcherites. The Remainers and the Leavers. The ERG or One nation. That’s politics. No party is perfect.

Now the party I joined in the 1990s was about low taxes, Euroscepticism, law and order and tradition.

But less than a year after becoming a tory MP in 2015 I found myself rebelling against David Cameron to support Brexit. Incidentally, almost exactly a decade ago. I had to put country above party. I thought my rebellion would be a one-off.

But it wasn’t. To my horror, Theresa May then messed up Brexit and I had to resign from ministerial office. I then rebelled not just once but three times over her Brexit betrayal deal. I was one of 28 spartans who believed enough in our nation’s sovereignty, that it was obvious what I had to do: put country before party.

I thought that the Eurosceptic right of the party had won after boris became PM and Brexit was delivered in 2020. But I was wrong. Brexit was actually a façade for what turned out to be a largely lib dem, socialist-lite agenda. It was CINO. After 2020 what did we see? out of control immigration, northern Ireland siphoned off, EU rules still applying, highest tax burden in 70 years, a bigger welfare state, weak borders and woke ideology taking over our schools and institutions. Where had the Brexit we all fought for- including this man- gone?

What followed Brexit were my rather lonely attempts to cut immigration, leave the ECHR, tackle Islamism and boot out failing police chiefs. On none of those questions was the party was with me and I stood alone.

The time has come to admit defeat. The right has lost the battle for the conservative party. I tried with all my might; took a few for the team. But the One Nation wets have won the conservative party. The centrists control it, they populate it and they are welcome to it. The truth is that in recent years I have found myself effectively in a social democrat/ left-leaning party made up of conservatives in name only. No wonder I have felt politically homeless for years.

So I have come to the irresistible conclusion that the conservative party is not a conservative party. It is very good at performative conservativism but we all know the truth. After the speeches are over, the cameras are off, the doors shut, when they’re sat around the table making the big decisions for the nation, conservatives will cave. I have tried to balance the need for compromise with my own political views. But this is now impossible. The betrayal too frequent, my loyalty has been abused.

So it is time. I have been patient. I have waited to see if the party would change. But the truth is clear- it has not and will not. The Conservative Party has gone.

That is why today, I am announcing that I am resigning the Conservative whip and membership- one that has endured some 30 years. A party in which I grew up, supported my mother who served as a councillor, stood as an MP herself, and of which I have been an MP for a decade. And that, I leave it, not with malice, anger or bitterness- that has passed long ago, but with sadness when I look at what a once great party has become.

So I have mixed feelings today. I am sad about leaving my political family- especially those members, friends and supporters in Fareham and Waterlooville- people with whom I have worked for a decade for the local community. They are all unsung heroes. I understand that many of them will feel hurt by my decision and I regret that my decision has caused them that. I apologise for that. But I very much hope many of them will join me at Reform UK.

But I am also incredibly excited and honoured to be joining Reform UK.

You see, there is another way. We can rescue our country and turn it around. We just need a leader we can believe in. Someone who hasn’t twisted and turned in the wind. Who hasn’t jumped on the passing trend just for votes. The thing with Nigel is that he just keeps going: they try to shut him down, they try to demonise him, they try to vilify but he doesn’t get blown off course. He actually gets stronger. That is remarkable in british politics- which is filled with craven, superficial, careerists. He’s not in politics for a title or for the next promotion. He’s in politics to actually do something. And he has the unique power to articulate the anger, frustration and despair that millions of people feel right now- millions who are smeared as racist just for wanting their country back; millions vilified as bigots just for wanting to stop the boats; millions judged just for wanting a bit more safety, fairness and security.

The steadfast, determined courage of this man is exactly what Britain needs more of.

You wont find any tweets from me criticising Nigel- because I largely agreed with him for years. He is battle hardened and is frankly the only man I trust to lead the country. He speaks for me and I know that he speaks for thousands of people in F&W.

Nigel has built a formidable operation. It is more than a mere political party. It is a movement. A mission to save Britain with a brilliant team around him.

I am proud and excited to join him today.