Danny sent me his reasons for the Defection!! will there be more? 

Dear Lee
Today I announced that I am leaving the Conservative Party and joining Reform UK. I know this will come as a shock, and strike many as a betrayal of the Party that selected me as a candidate for Parliament and supported my election campaigns in 2019 and 2024.
To those people I simply say: I am deeply sorry to be letting you down. I have so many friends in the local Conservative Party – people who have trudged the streets delivering leaflets, backed my work, donated financially – and the biggest argument against leaving the Party has been the pain of leaving and hurting them.
But this is a business in which we have to put our personal loyalties, and certainly our institutional memberships, to one side and think what is in the best interests of the country and our constituents.
As I explain in the article I’ve written below, which is appearing in the papers shortly. the country is in crisis and it is, I believe, the duty of all conservatives to unite behind the party and the leader who is best able to win power and to deliver the change that is needed. I don’t think the divided, discredited Conservative Party can do that. I do think that with the help of serious people, and the commitment I know Nigel Farage has to planning properly for government – a task he has put me in charge of – Reform UK can.
Reform are clear that they expect a series of MPs to join them, and they do not want a series of by-elections. I agree. Our task now is to hold Labour to account and to prepare for government if we are elected. I will continue to represent East Wiltshire in exactly the same way I have since the last election: opposing the Government, speaking up for conservative principles, and serving the constituency as best I can.
Just to assure you things won’t change, here’s a historical nugget to close my newsletter (short video). This weekend we celebrated the 1200th anniversary of the Battle of Ellendune, in modern day Wroughton, where in the year 825 the forces of Wessex and Mercia fought to establish supremacy over southern England. Wessex won, and united the country so that when, 50 years later, the great clash with the Vikings came, we had the strength and unity to win, push back the barbarians, and establish the kingdom. There is a lesson for me there about the need for unity – even at the cost of a painful battle – to face the common enemy.
With all good wishes
Danny



Article

I have been a member of the Conservative Party for over 20 years, and I’ve worked in some capacity or other for every leader since Iain Duncan Smith – the great social reformer and Brexiteer who remains a hero to me. I have many friends in the Party and on a personal level, defection feels very painful.
But I’m leaving because I think the party is over. The highlights of our time in office – the Big Society and Brexit, the two things that made me proudest to be a Tory – were achieved in the face of massive internal opposition. And overall our record in government was one of failure – low wage growth and high taxation, hollowed-out communities and a hollowed-out military, foreign policy mistakes and cultural surrender.
Today our country – led by a far worse government that is accelerating the decline – is in crisis. Yet the Conservative Party seems unable to rise to the challenge of the moment.
I hoped after our defeat last year the Party would learn the obvious lesson. The old ways don’t work; centrism is not enough; real change is needed.
Instead we’ve had a year of stasis and drift and the sham unity that comes from not doing anything bold or difficult or controversial.
The result is in the polls. Those lost voters aren’t coming back. And every day more and more people are joining them in deserting the party that has failed.
This is a cause of regret for those of us who have put our trust in the Conservative Party for so long. But it is not a reason for despair – quite the opposite.
The failure of the Conservative Party has created space for an alternative. The flame is passing from one torch to another. The old torch is guttering, but the new torch is already alight, already brighter than the one it is replacing.
The job of conservatives now is to support and strengthen the new torch that carries our flame, so that if Reform UK is elected the new government will be able to deliver on its promises. I am honoured to have been asked to work with Nigel Farage, Zia Yusuf, Richard Tice and our other colleagues, to help Reform prepare for government.
It’s going to be difficult – because we are planning change on a scale the system hasn’t seen since the modern civil service was created in the 19th century.
We will be radical – taking on the vested interests and the incumbents who always defend the status quo.
But while Reform UK is a radical force it is not a revolutionary one. Our mission is not just to overthrow the current system. It’s to restore the system we need: a system of limited government and accountable power, a strong society and a state that works in the interests of the people.
Reform UK is a project of radical restoration. And we need your help. No group of politicians has all the answers. So we welcome anyone with expertise or experience or ideas – including people serving in Whitehall, the public sector or the Armed Forces – to get in touch and help us prepare for government.
We on the right of politics face a choice: to embrace the change that is happening, or to go down to a deserved demise. We can follow the flame of conservatism as it passes to a new torch – or we can stand still and get darker and colder and more pointless.
To be conservative is not to worship the ashes of defunct institutions. It is to preserve the fire that gives the country its life.
The new custodian of that fire is Nigel Farage, and I am proud to follow him. Britain needs Reform.