Former UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has made a dramatic political move that feels more like a reality TV twist than a dry Westminster announcement. One Monday, she officially left the Conservative Party after three decades and joined Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, turning one of the most talked-about right-wing figures into a full-time star of the populist show.
Braverman announced it at a Reform rally in London, flanked by Farage and a crowd of veterans and activists. She told supporters she felt like she had “come home” and said it was “the honour of my life” to defect to reform. With her move, Reform now has eight sitting MPs, and Braverman becomes the latest big-name Conservative to abandon the party in a wave of high-profile exits.
The 46-year-old MP, who has represented her southern England seat since 2015, said she was resigning the Conservative whip and quitting her party membership. She claimed Britain was “broken,” blamed the government for “managed decline,” and accused the Conservatives of failing to control immigration and defend national sovereignty.
Braverman also attacked her former colleagues over comments about her mental health. A leaked Conservative statement had referred to her “mental health,” which the party later said was sent out in error. She hit back, saying such remarks “say more about them than they do about me,” and accused party leaders of mocking her when she raised concerns after the last general election.
Farage welcomed her as a “proud right-winger” and said they had been talking about her joining for about a year. He framed her defection as proof that the centre-right was shifting toward Reform, painting the Conservatives as a “failed” government that had lost its way.
Braverman served as attorney general under Boris Johnson and later as home secretary under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. She was forced to resign in 2023 after sending an official document via her personal email and later clashed with Sunak over her criticism of the Metropolitan Police during pro-Palestinian protests. Her time in government made her a polarising celebrity-politician known for hard-line views on immigration, law and order, and human rights rules.
By joining Reform, she is betting that Farage’s brand of anti-establishment, anti-immigration politics is the future of the British right. In her speech, she promised to push for leaving the European Court of Human Rights and accused the Tories of treating that pledge as a “lie.”
Conservative sources hit back, suggesting her move was driven by personal ambition after her failed bid to become party leader. They also said it was “always a matter of when, not if” she would defect, portraying her as a disruptive figure who never truly fit the mainstream.
Braverman’s switch adds another explosive chapter to the ongoing soap opera of British politics for political watchers and tabloid readers. Whether she becomes a Reform star or simply a louder voice on the sidelines, her latest act has turned a policy debate into prime-time entertainment.
