Nigel Farage has helped clear out “drama queens” from the Tory party, Kemi Badenoch has told The Independent.
As of February 2026, several high-profile former Conservative MPs have made the move to Reform UK, including Robert Jenrick, Suella Braverman and Lee Anderson.
Speaking to Whitehall editor Kate Devlin about the string of defections, Ms Badenoch joked that Mr Farage was “doing my spring cleaning for me”.
“If people don’t want to be in the Conservative party because they don’t like the policy, I understand. If they want to leave because they’re drama queens and they want to go to the place where the other drama queens are congregating, that’s absolutely fine.”
