Former Conservative minister Nadine Dorries said she has received an outpouring of support since announcing her defection to Reform UK, and that many Tory supporters have privately told her they are considering switching allegiance.
In a column published after she revealed the move on the Daily Mail, Dorries said her overriding emotion was "relief" and described texts and messages from colleagues and party members following the announcement, which she said was posted on the Mail website at about 7pm on Thursday. She recounted meeting an investment banker over the weekend who told her he would now vote for Reform if an election were held tomorrow.
Dorries attended the Reform UK conference in Birmingham and described the atmosphere as energetic and welcoming. She said she encountered familiar faces from her former Conservative association in Mid Bedfordshire and was embraced on stage by Reform leader Nigel Farage. She also referenced the presence of Reform deputy Richard Tice and said senior figures appeared to relish encounters with grassroots supporters.
In her column Dorries criticised what she described as a shift in Conservative Party conferences under former leaders, saying modernisers converted events into more corporate affairs and distanced senior figures from rank-and-file members. She said that change contributed to a loss of enthusiasm among traditional activists and that, in her view, seats at conferences became increasingly occupied by lobbyists and PR firms.
Dorries framed her departure as part of a broader dissatisfaction with both the Conservative and Labour parties. She wrote that voters are ‘‘done being taken for fools’’ and argued that increased scrutiny from social media and 24/7 news coverage has made it harder for parties to evade accountability. She attributed some of the drift away from the two main parties to what she described as failures in government performance and to the perceived inability of parliamentary majorities to deliver meaningful reform.
While Dorries said Reform’s policies did not yet contain "enough meat on the bones," she added that voters understand the party's intent, ethos and principles and know what its leadership stands for. She also highlighted what she said was a notable flow of younger supporters into Reform, a development she described as important for the party's future.
Dorries' comments reflect one high-profile recent defection but do not provide independent evidence of wider membership shifts within the Conservative Party. Conservative and Labour officials did not comment in the column, and there is no immediate corroboration of the private views she described from other Tory figures beyond her own account.
In addition to her political remarks, Dorries wrote briefly about life in the Cotswolds after reports that US entertainers were moving to the area, urging newcomers to engage with local communities and support local businesses.
Dorries served as a Conservative cabinet minister and remained a high-profile figure within the party before her decision to join Reform UK. Her public shift to Nigel Farage's party adds to a series of political realignments in the UK as parties prepare for the next general election campaign, and it highlights ongoing debates about party identity, grassroots engagement and voter loyalty.