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Senior Conservative MP Gavin Williamson has denied that he is planning to defect to Reform UK.
The former Tory whip told PoliticsHome it was “news to him” when asked about Michael Gove’s claim that he would be the next Conservative MP to switch.
Gove, a former Conservative cabinet minister, is now editor of The Spectator. He made the claim about Williamson on the magazine’s podcast Quite Right! this week.
“The number one suspect for defection at the moment is… Gavin Williamson,” the former MP for Surrey Heath said.
“Gavin, the former chief whip, has a fingertip feel for power, and he has a taste for the intriuge, obviously, but an aptitude for putting himself at the heart of events.
“And I think that the temptation to be at the heart of what Reform are doing will prove very great.”
He added: “And Gavin, if you’re listening and this is absolutely not true, I can only apologise.”
Asked specifically about Gove’s claim, Williamson, who has been the Conservative MP for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge constituency since 2010, said: “[It is] certainly news to me.”
He added: “Michael gets a lot of things wrong. He thought banning plastic straws was a good idea and replacing them with paper.”
This was a reference to Gove’s time as environment secretary, when he outlawed plastic straws, drinks stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds in England.
Asked if he was totally ruling out a switch to Nigel Farage’s party, Williamson said: “Yes.”
There are questions in Westminster over whether more Conservative MPs will follow former cabinet ministers Robert Jenrick, Suella Braverman and Nadhim Zahawi, who have all defected to Reform UK this month. Andrew Rosindell is the most recent MP to make the switch. Danny Kruger, Reform MP for East Wiltshire, also defected from the Conservatives.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has sought to put a positive spin on the losses, arguing that her party will be stronger as a result.
Speaking on Wednesday, she said: “To those who are defecting, who don’t actually disagree with our policies, I will say, I’m sorry you didn’t win the leadership contest…
“I’m sorry you didn’t get a job in the shadow cabinet. I’m sorry you didn’t get into the Lords. But you are not offering a plan to fix this country. This is a tantrum dressed up as politics.”
Reform continues to lead both the Tories and Labour in the opinion polls, and is eyeing significant gains at the 7 May local elections.
However, recent polling suggests the party’s popularity has started to dip.
On Tuesday, GB News presenter and former academic Matt Goodwin was announced as the Reform candidate to contest next month’s Gorton and Denton by-election.
