Disillusioned Tories slam party's 'abhorrent infighting' and vow to stand as MPs for Reform UK

After defecting to Reform UK in 2022, he is now preparing to stand against his former party in Barnsley East at this year's general election.

White said he became "deeply concerned” about the Tories’ direction of travel towards the end of Boris Johnson’s time in office, claiming that Liz Truss's resignation was the final straw.

He told the Telegraph: "Boris was an excellent campaigner, got the election won and absolutely squandered it. People now realise that he’s not the quality leader that people expected.

"The infighting has been abhorrent, comical, and Liz Truss was the final straw. The backbiting and infighting to get Rishi Sunak elected was absolutely shocking.

"Every time I went into the town hall I was ridiculed by the Labour members, and rightly so."

Cllr Robert Bromley, who was elected as a Conservative councillor in Runnymede in 2021, has taken a similar position to White.

Bromley, who was elected as a Conservative deputy, has since quite the party to join reform. He is currently in talks with party bosses about where he might stand at the next election.

Speaking about his decision to turn his back on the party, he said: "I’m not very happy with the infighting. I think Rishi’s a nice guy but he’s in the wrong job.

"Migration is probably the main thing – Richard Tice comes across as saying the right things, and that’s why I resigned my membership from the Conservatives and joined Reform."

Mark Hoath, Reform's candidate for Sutton Coldfield, said there is "not a chance I would ever consider voting for Rishi Sunak".

He blames the Tories for the decline of the Midlands town, which has been held by the Tories since the constituency was created in 1945.

He said: "If you look at our town centre now, it’s not a shadow of what it used to be and that’s all been under his watch.

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"And when you see the fiasco with virtually everything that he tries to do, there’s not a chance I would ever consider voting for Rishi Sunak."

Last week, People Polling for GB News, showed that Reform UK are now just eight points behind the Tories.

In a fresh blow to Rishi Sunak, the survey put Labour at 45 per cent, the Conservatives at 20 per cent and Reform at 12 per cent.

The GB News People Polling saw 16 per cent of 2019 Conservatives back Nigel Farage as the most popular choice to replace Sunak as the leader of the party.

The next most popular choice was Boris Johnson on 15 per cent support to replace Sunak, ahead of Penny Mordaunt on 12 per cent.