Ex-Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry defects to Reform UK and declares it is ‘the last chance to pull Britain back’

Former Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry has defected to Reform UK, saying Nigel Farage’s party is the ‘last chance to pull Britain back from decline’. 

The close ally of Boris Johnson, 46, announced on Wednesday night he had left the Conservatives after 25 years of membership. 

It is the latest blow for Kemi Badenoch’s party which is slipping behind Reform UK in the polls.  

Sir Jake made the announcement via The Sun newspaper, saying the Tories had ‘lost their way’. 

He said: ‘Our streets are completely lawless. Migration is out of control. Taxes are going through the roof.

‘And day after day, I hear from people in my community and beyond who say the same thing: ‘This isn’t the Britain I grew up in’.’

Sir Jake added in further remarks tonight: ‘For 25 years, I was proud to call myself a Conservative. Fourteen of those years, I served as an MP.

‘I even sat at the Cabinet table twice. I believed in it. I gave it everything. Because I believed politics could still make this country better.

Former Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry has defected to Reform UK, saying Nigel Farage’s party is the ‘last chance to pull Britain back from decline’

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage during a press conference in Westminster in June 

‘But let’s not kid ourselves. Britain is broken. It didn’t start with Labour. The Conservative governments I was part of share the blame.’

Sir Jake, who lost his seat at the general election last year, is one of the biggest names yet to defect from the Conservative Party to Reform. 

He follows Lee Anderson, the MP for Ashfield, and Marco Longhi and Dame Andrea Jenkyns in joining Mr Farage’s insurgents. 

Sir Jake is also the second former Cabinet minister in just a week to join Reform, after ex-Welsh secretary David Jones announced he had enrolled as a member. 

The 46-year-old was a MP for Rossendale and Darwen between 2010 and 2024.

He has held several ministerial offices and also served as the chairman of Conservative Party in 2022. 

Explaining his decision on Wednesday night, Sir Jake said: ‘We now have a tax system that punishes hard work and ambition.

‘Just this week, we saw record numbers of our brightest and best people leaving Britain because they can’t see a future here.

Sir Jake follows Lee Anderson (pictured), the MP for Ashfield, and Marco Longhi and Dame Andrea Jenkyns in joining Mr Farage’s insurgents

‘At the same time, our benefits system is pulling in the world’s poor with no plan for integration and no control over who comes in.

‘If you were deliberately trying to wreck the country, you’d be hard-pressed to do a better job than the last two decades of Labour and Tory rule.

‘Millions of people, just like me, want a country they can be proud of again. The only way we get that is with Reform in government. 

‘That’s why I’ve resigned from the Conservative Party. I’m now backing Reform UK and working to make them the next party of government.

‘And with Nigel Farage leading Reform, we’ve got someone the country can actually trust. 

‘He doesn’t change his views to fit the mood of the day. And people respect that. So do I. That’s why I believe he should be our next Prime Minister.

‘If we want to fix this country, it’s time to be bold again. It’s time to believe again. It’s time for Reform.’