Nigel Farage eyes up a number of Tory MP defections within MONTHS and wants 'like-minded' MPs to join him

Braverman, who is expected to run to succeed Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader, has denied she is switching teams but Farage has said he is open to any Tories who wish to make the jump.

Discussing Braverman, whom he insists he had not spoken to, Farage said: “There’s a place for like-minded people but is that what she wants?

“I’ve no idea, it’s not my focus."

“I’ve spent zero time on defections. If they come about as an issue they come about as an issue,” he told The Daily Express.

The former Home Secretary has been tipped to deflect after the Tory leadership race, with results being announced on November 2.

Speaking to The i, one senior Tory said: “There’s now so much antagonism towards Suella Braverman among MPs that there is now a generally held view that she will defect.”

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Meanwhile, a Reform UK source said: “We expect her to take a tilt at the Tory leadership and then come over to us, perhaps in the autumn around conference time.”

Reacting to the reports to GB News, political commentator Charlie Rowley claimed that although it may be “a good fit for Suella and a good fit for Reform”, the move would “not be a good look” for the former Home Secretary.

He said: “I'm sure Reform would love to have a former Home Secretary, someone who's actually held a cabinet position and has been in fair ranks.

“But I don't think it's the right move really at all. The idea that there's this conversation about her leaving to join Reform is not a good look for her.”

Farage also said that if several Red Wall Tories had made the leap to join his party, then they would have kept their seats.

“Had a few of the others made that leap they would have been reelected, there are several seats where MPs, had they stood for Reform they would have won,” he said.

“I would be very surprised that within the next year, some didn’t make that leap,” he said.

Lee Anderson, ex-Tory deputy chairman, became Reform’s first MP when he jumped ship. He held his seat at the General Election, batting off fierce competition from Labour, the Tories and independent candidates.

Reform UK received roughly four million votes on July 4, which translates into a 14 per cent share of the total votes cast.

Farage and Anderson are joined in the House of Commons by Richard Tice, former party leader; Rupert Lowe, and James McMurdock.