Ex-Tory MP defects as Nigel Farage scrambles to distance Reform from Tommy Robinson
A former Tory MP defected to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK last night, saying he feels “at home” in the hard right party.
It comes after Reform MP Lee Anderson was repeatedly interrupted by Tommy Robinson supporters during his speech to the party’s UK East Midlands Conference in Leicester.
People in the audience shouted “Listen to Tommy” during Mr Anderson’s speech, prompting him to tell them to “shut up” or leave.
The party has been scrambling to distance itself from Robinson in recent days, after erratic tech billionaire Elon Musk appeared to endorse the far-right provocateur on Twitter.
Mr Farage described Mr Musk as a “hero figure, especially for the youth”, ahead of his party’s East Midlands Conference in Leicester on Friday evening.
But he distanced his party from Robinson, who is serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court which began in October.
Mr Musk wrote on his social media website X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday: “Free Tommy Robinson.”
Asked about the tech billionaire’s post, Mr Farage told GB News: “He’s attacking the leadership of Britain.”
Turning to the UK Government’s handling of child grooming gangs, amid calls for a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham, the party leader continued: “I mean, (Mr Musk is) saying Britain has been terribly badly led and that the grooming scandal, the mass rape scandal which has resurfaced and transcripts of what was said in court have been online – and I recommend you at home don’t read them, you won’t sleep at night.
“And so, yes, he is attacking the leadership of Britain. He’s very supportive of me. He’s very supportive of the party.
“He sees Robinson as one of these people that fought against the grooming gangs. But of course the truth is Tommy Robinson’s in prison not for that, but for contempt of court.”
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PA)
On whether Reform UK would accept support from Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – in the future, Mr Farage replied: “We’re a political party aiming to win the next general election. He’s not what we need.”
Taking a break from his speech at the Reform rally yesterday, Mr Farage introduced Marco Longhi to the stage as “a loyal member of the Conservative Party for the last goodness knows how many years”.
Mr Longhi, the MP for Dudley North between 2019 and 2024, told Reform UK supporters: “I am a patriot and I finally feel at home. Why am I here? I am here because of each and every one of you. I am here because of what has happened to our once-great country.
“I am here because the party I have been loyal to over decades through good times and in the bad times has lost its soul. It is unrecognisable. It has changed, I have not.”
He later added: “Totally unchecked immigration and guess what? A housing crisis to follow, surprise to surprise.
“The highest levels of tax and spend. Is that a surprise in these circumstances? A lawless society. Guess what? We’ve been importing huge levels of criminality into our country at a time when our own police forces, I’m embarrassed to say, are more intent on the moves of the Macarena than the moves of coming to sort out the crime they need to sort out.
Shaking his head, Mr Longhi said: “Our country is at a brink.”
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