A Tory Heart, a Patriot First

I woke up this morning with that hollow, slightly queasy feeling you get when something you didn’t want to happen has happened anyway.

Robert Jenrick joined Reform yesterday.

As a Conservative, I am gutted. Not performatively disappointed, not professionally neutral, but genuinely, instinctively gutted. Rob is not just another name on a Westminster musical chairs list. He is one of the sharpest, most thoughtful, most relentlessly hardworking politicians of his generation. I know him. I’ve watched him up close. I’ve seen the inboxes, the late nights, the briefings, the relentless grind of trying to make Britain better.

And I do not believe, even now, that he was going to actually do this.

Nigel Farage admitted as much at his conference. There was no grand unveiling planned, no signed contract, no marching band waiting in the wings. What happened yesterday did not feel like a long-plotted escape. It felt like a rupture, a snap, a consequence of what happened after Kemi Badenoch sacked him.

That decision shocked many of us. What followed shocked us more.

Yes, Rob was undoubtably fed up. Anyone who says otherwise wasn’t listening. I’m sure he was probably frustrated, sidelined, suspicious of the machine, and, yes, convinced that he could do better. And I still think he should have won the leadership. In every poll I conducted of Conservative members, in every WhatsApp group, every informal survey, he was miles ahead of Kemi. So when CCHQ, announced she had won, it felt less like a verdict and more like a curveball. I certainly think he would have done a better job than Kemi.

But elections happen, results are declared, and we live with them. We are where we are.

And 2029 is still a long way away.

But let me be absolutely clear. I am staying a Conservative. I believe in the party’s traditions, its history, its instinct for enterprise, nation, and liberty. I am not jumping ship. I am not defecting. I’ve admitted it publicly several times, I don’t particularly rate Kemi. But I rate the machine and I do like a lot of the Tory MPs. Katie Lam, Suella Braverman, Nigel Huddleston, Bradley Thomas in Bromsgrove, Andrew Griffith, Claire Coutinho… I could go on.

Nick Timothy, who has now taken Rob’s place as shadow justice secretary, is an exceptional appointment. Sharp, serious, principled, and strategically brilliant. That matters. The Conservatives are not devoid of talent, even now.

But I also get on very well with Nigel. In fact some of my best friends are in Reform. I like many of Reform’s ideas. And I can say that without betraying my party, because this country is bigger than any of us.

And I will continue to support Rob. His work, his speeches, his videos, his sheer ability to communicate clearly with the British public are outstanding. If Nigel’s platform helps amplify that voice, if it means more people hear him, more people think about the issues he raises, then fantastic. I hope his impact will only grow.

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth, Kemi never cut through the way Rob did.

I think she always knew he was coming for her job. And I firmly believe that after the local elections, he would have had a serious shot at taking it. Yesterday felt less like discipline and more like pre-emption.

But this is where I draw my line.

Country before party.

Britain before badges.

We have a disastrous Labour government, sleepwalking the nation into economic stagnation, strategic weakness, and cultural confusion. We cannot afford civil war on the so called “patriotic right” while Starmer’s machine plods on unchallenged.

We need to defend every blade of glass across our green and pleasant land from being smothered in solar panels in the name of performative environmentalism.

We need to fight for every grain of sand in the Chagos Islands and stop staring blankly while a terrible deal is pushed through that sells out British sovereignty.

We need to stop attacking our own, stop sniping at fellow small-c conservatives, stop treating every disagreement as heresy.

The right must unite.

Whether you are Tory or Reform, you are probably first and foremost a patriot. You love this country, its history, its freedoms, its borders, its institutions, its people. That is what matters.

Robert Jenrick has made his choice. I wish it had been different. I wish yesterday had never happened. But wishing does not change reality.

What we can do is remember this, in the storm and the noise and the drama.

Britain comes first.

Claire Bullivant