Three former Tory MPs defect to Farage’s Reform

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Three former Conservative MPs have defected to Reform, a source in Nigel Farage’s party has confirmed.

Jonathan Gullis, who represented Stoke-on-Trent North, Lia Nici, who served as Grimsby MP, and former Bolton West Tory MP Chris Green have all joined “on their own accord online”, a Reform party source confirmed to Press Association.

Mr Gullis is a former Conservative Party deputy chairman and education minister.

He told the BBC that he had been a member of the party for 18 years, but believes it has “lost touch with the people it was meant to serve”.

The former MP for Stoke-on-Trent North and education minister had been a party member for 18 years, but said he believed the party had “lost touch with the people it was meant to serve”.

Jonathan Gullis is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party
Jonathan Gullis is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party (PA Media)

The three defections are the first since Danny Kruger, the sitting MP for East Wiltshire, left the Tories for Reform in September.

A Reform party source said: “The Conservative Party is dead. Only Reform can beat Labour at the next election as the polls show time and time again.”

This is a breaking news story, more to follow…