Principles Optional: The Politics of Defection

“Our wonderful country is sick” and “Britain is Broken” were some of the words spoken by Zahawi and Jenrick, as the two senior Conservatives announced they were joining Farage’s Reform UK over the past week. 

Tory defections to Reform are now happening at a rate where it is hard to believe the Conservative Party is the longest existing political party in the West. Each week Conservatives once considered stoic and loyal are deserting the party that gave rise to their political career in favour of a new, more radical alternative.  

Indeed, there are many things these defections can tell us, not least that the Conservatives are struggling to retain even their most loyal personnel. Yet, what we can glean from these goes beyond the damage it will cause to an already weak Conservative party. In another, perhaps more sinister sense, we are undoubtedly seeing the pull personal ambition has in Britain’s politicians. Whilst the Conservatives have lost their Shadow Justice Secretary and a former Chancellor has been pulled back out of the water after defeat in 2024, Reform have gained potential future senior cabinet ministers, and perhaps even an heir to Farage. Jenrick, much like Zahawi, certainly knows it’s well within his chances.  

Both Zahawi and Jenrick have an amusing past with Nigel Farage, considering that they have just sacrificed the stability of the party they have long been members of, both holding a seat for over a decade.  

Zahawi has had several of his previous tweets regarding Farage and his politics brought into the public eye, leading many to wonder whether he has done this for personal gain. In March 2015, Zahawi labelled Farage’s comments as “racist and offensive”, going on to later say he would be “frightened” of a government led by Farage. Zahawi upheld his online opposition to Farage in April 2015, stating “he’s as establishment as they come.” Such clear opposition to Farage has made considerable room for Zahawi’s recent comment that the UK “needs Nigel Farage as Prime Minister” to shock so many. Accusations of his actions being entirely for self-preservation are thus revealed to be completely justified. 

The loss of Zahawi and Jenrick says equally as much about the state of British politics as it does about the failure of the Conservative party – party loyalty can be disregarded and personal ambition is the only force that truly motivates those supposed to represent the people of Britain.  

It’s not just Zahawi however who appears to have had a change of heart: Jenrick, who was fired by Kemi Badenoch and joined Reform on the 15^th January, also has a vibrant, and perhaps more recent habit of making his supposed opposition to Reform known.  

In July 2025, Jenrick posted that “Reform should give you the boot” to Reform Chair Zia Yusuf. Several posts in 2025 also place Robert Jenrick as an objector to Farage, questioning in March “Why is Farage backing this policy? Has he cooked this up after one too many pints at his local?”.

Such humorous, as surely humiliating, previous opposition to Farage is one reason why we may consider this wave of Tory defections to be fuelled by self-ambition. It would be hard for anyone to find other reasons, when their past disagreement with the Clacton MP and Reform Leader is entirely incongruent to the smiles and laughter seen in press conferences. 

There is also the consideration that both were desperate for roles they did not get. Conservative HQ and MPs were quick to point out that Zahawi was “begging” for a Peerage after being sacked as Tory Chair in 2023. Similarly, many have blamed Jenrick’s defection on his leadership election loss to Kemi Badenoch in November 2024, suggesting an air of personal aspiration certainly factored into the former Shadow Justice Secretary’s decision. Whilst both disregard such allegations, with Jenrick stating it was not motivated by “personal ambition” in an interview with Laura Kuenssberg, Badenoch’s claim that “he was plotting in secret to defect in a way designed to be as damaging as possible” is damning evidence that Jenrick’s defection was significantly motivated by ambitions of grandeur. 

In response to this, Kemi Badenoch has done all she can do: fire Jenrick before he defected, pretend that these actions do not impact the Conservative Party and give the impression that Zahawi, Jenrick and future defectors are “Farage’s problem now.” Her meeting with all Tory MPs on January 19 is also a move she was wise to take. In a letter calling the meeting, Badenoch made clear that "those who cannot be part of a Conservative Party that is changing in this way are free to make other choices”, but we must consider the impact of such an ultimatum. Starmer’s “if you don't like the changes that we've made, I say the door is open, and you can leave", in February 2023, has certainly not gone down well with the left of the Labour party – could it have a similar effect of the right of Badenoch’s? 

We will hear a lot about what these two defections and the ones to come mean for the Conservative Party, and how it will weaken them further. We may also hear about how these weaken Reform, reinforcing the argument that Reform is a “retirement home” for failed Tories. Yet, the stealthy actions of Nadhim Zahawi and Robert Jernick reinforce the sinister truth that British politics remains a place dominated by personal ambition. The loss of Zahawi and Jenrick says equally as much about the state of British politics as it does about the failure of the Conservative party – party loyalty can be disregarded and personal ambition is the only force that truly motivates those supposed to represent the people of Britain.  

The question is: how many more MPs across Parliament feel inclined to disregard colleagues, parties and leaders for Mr Farage’s project?  

Image: altogetherfool / Flickr