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Badenoch: I'm glad Tory defectors are going to Reform
Kemi Badenoch has said she was happy to see a slew of Tory politicians defect to Reform UK because they were not real conservatives.
Speaking at the Scottish Tory conference in Edinburgh, the Tory leader said that Reform was ' not a centre-Right party ' because it backed nationalisation and raising state benefits.
Mrs Badenoch said 'Nigel Farage is taking out of the Conservative Party the people who are not conservatives' and she was 'quite fine with that'. She said that she wanted an 'authentic Conservative Party'.
She also alleged that Mr Farage was a 'threat to the Union' because Reform MSPs would put the SNP back into power after next year's Holyrood election.
Fourteen Tory councillors in Scotland have defected to Reform and an MSP, Jamie Greene, has switched to the Liberal Democrats.
Mr Greene said: 'Her instinct to casually dismiss anyone scunnered with the Conservatives illustrates perfectly just how out of touch she is with the existential crisis her party faces.
'By undoing Ruth Davidson's broad-church conservativism in favour of Right-wing propaganda, she and Russell Findlay seem set to consign the Scottish Tories to the history books for a generation.'
Dozens of Conservative councillors have also switched sides in England, including Sarah Pochin, who is now an MP after winning the Runcorn and Helsby by-election.
Other high-profile politicians who have defectors from the Conservatives since the general election include Marco Longhi and Dame Andrea Jenkyns, two former Tory MPs, and Tim Montgomerie, a conservative commentator.
But Mrs Badenoch said: ' Reform are not a centre-Right party. This is a party that's talking about nationalising oil and gas.
'This is a party that wants to increase benefits at a time when the benefits bill is so high. So if Nigel Farage is taking out of the Conservative Party the people who are not Conservatives, then I'm quite fine with that.
'One of the things that we ned to do is make sure that people see an authentic Conservative Party, we don't want people who want nationalisation and more benefits.
'If offering a very, very clear kind of conservatism is now sending out the people from our party who don't believe in our values in the long run, that's a good thing.'
She added there was no point in 'accumulating lots of people who don't believe in conservativism just so we can win', adding: 'Then when we get into government, we can't govern.
'We want to have people who believe in our agenda, not just people who want to be politicians.'
'Not worried about the SNP'
The Tories have been the main opposition party to the SNP since 2016 but polls suggest they could end up finishing fourth in next year's Holyrood election, behind the Nationalists, Labour and Reform.
Mr Farage was asked in April which candidate for first minister his MSPs would support in a vote that takes place after each election.
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, may need the support of other Unionist parties to get more votes than John Swinney, the SNP leader and current First Minister.
But Mr Farage said that Reform MSPs would not endorse Mr Sarwar under any circumstances and he was 'not that worried about the SNP'.
Mrs Badenoch used her keynote conference speech to attack Reform, warning that ' the Union is just not that important to them '.
She said: 'In April this year, Nigel Farage said he would be fine with the SNP winning another five years in power.
'He's fine with another five years of higher bills, longer waiting lists, declining school standards, gender madness, and ultimately, independence. Reform will vote to let the SNP in, Conservatives will only ever vote to get the Nationalists out.'
Asked later if she considered Mr Farage to be a threat to the Union, she said: 'If he wants the SNP to have another five years, then that is a threat to the Union. So, yes.'
A Reform UK spokesman said: 'Kemi is losing councillors to Reform in droves because the Tory party has become indistinguishable from their Labour counterparts.
'After decades of failed leadership, false promises, and under delivery, voters are turning to us by the dozen – the only party that will prioritise the best interest of Britons, secure our borders, and return accountability to politics.
'We will continue to welcome anyone who shares our vision for integrity, accountability, and meaningful change to join us.'
