Reform made the most of it.
‘Exclusive’: Tory defector begs Reform UK to avoid critical MISTAKE as he reveals ‘final straw’ reason for exit,’ splashed GB News this week.
The ‘Conservative heavyweight’ the article refers to is Tim Montgomerie, founder of Conservative Home and former Boris Johnson adviser, who jumped ship to join what GB News calls the ‘burgeoning populist party’ after 33 years as a Tory member.
The tipping point for Montgomerie was the Tories’ handling of immigration. He told GB News:
“The final straw for me was last Thursday’s immigration numbers. And how many times I sat with a Tory over the last few years who said they were controlling immigration.
“Then we learnt last Thursday that immigration had hit record levels and it wasn’t the channel crossings, it wasn’t things beyond the conservative minister’s control. It was actually within ministers’ ability to control those numbers. And they let immigration get out of control.”
Now, Montgomerie’s praying that Reform doesn’t make the same mistakes, though he’s encouraged by what he’s seen so far, claims the article.
The defection wasn’t exactly widely reported, with GB News and the Spectator being among the few to cover it. But naturally, Reform made the most of it, posting the news on X alongside a photo of a beaming Nigel Farage, Montgomerie, and the party’s millionaire chair, Zia Yusuf.
The post generated plenty of ridicule.
“So hang on, the party that stated very clearly that their intention was to destroy the Tories is now filling itself up at all levels with…. Tories. Yusuf was a Tory, Jenkyns slags the leadership off in July and is accepted last week, Anderson goes anywhere there’s a Party. More of a sell out day by day – Tory Lite Ltd,” wrote Dave Lawrence on X.
But the biggest scorn came after Lee Anderson shared Reform’s news of Montgomerie’s defection. “This is huge. The political tsunami continues,” Anderson wrote.
Lawrence shot back: “Washed up, dated political commentator joins the Just the 2nd Tory Party and it’s huge, A Party made up of the unvetted, the suspended from the Tories, the defectives (or defectors|) from the Tories, who pretend they want to destroy the Tories but won’t entertain the Tommy Robinson right wing.”
“Reformorons being created out of tory dregs means the parties’ foundations are already rotten from the very start,” was another comment.
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