Reform UK’s momentum is influencing other parties too. The Greens voted overwhelmingly to elect Zack Polanski last month, partly on the basis that he would replicate Nigel Farage’s media success. Labour are basing much of their current strategy on a cordon sanitaire approach, hyping up the threat of any Farage-led government. The Liberal Democrats are now trying to copy a model that Reform has exploited to great effect: luring Tory defectors to their side.
In April, Jamie Greene, a West Scotland MSP since 2016, crossed the floor at Holyrood. Sir Ed Davey sought to build on this in his recent conference address, issuing an explicit appeal for ‘One Nation Conservatives’ to join him. The Lib Dems have sought to hammer this message home in recent weeks. A van advertising party membership was cheekily driven around the Tory conference in Manchester, with the former Tory leader on Worcestershire County Council switching sides too.
More details of the party’s plans can today be revealed. The Spectator has seen a leaked memo drawn up by Dave McCobb, the Lib Dems’ campaigns director. Addressed to senior staff in party HQ, it sets out plans for ‘Operation New Home’. This initiative aims to ‘reach out’ to liberally-minded ‘Conservative councillors across the country who would be open to joining the Lib Dems.’
The Liberal Democrats are now trying to copy a model that Reform has exploited to great effect: luring Tory defectors to their side.
According to McCobb, the party’s troops have received intelligence that ‘One Nation Conservatives on the ground’ are ‘feeling more and more alienated by their party’ with plans to leave the ECHR and overhaul the Climate Change Act two factors being cited. ‘We need to be ready for more Conservative councillors to cross the floor to us in the coming months’, writes McCobb.
Staff are therefore being instructed to identify and contact ’current Conservative councillors who are open to joining us.’ Sir Ed’s aides are being ordered to support council groups ‘in talks with potential defectors’ and attract waverers into the fold. Greene, as a defector himself, has ‘offered to advise the team.’ McCobb’s email notes that ‘many of the councils whose elections were delayed last year by Conservative administrations will be up for election in May 2026 as new unitaries.’ Staff are to liaise with council colleagues on ‘next steps in their patches’ ahead of what McCobb calls a ‘potential electoral catastrophe’ for the Conservatives.
In parliament, the One Nation caucus has effectively disbanded; across the country, the Tories have shed voters in recent years. Davey’s approach is aimed at the middle men: the local councillors who keep the Conservatives running. Reform UK has enjoyed a flood of names switching sides in recent months. The Lib Dems are clearly hopeful that there is a similar contingent of ambitious and disaffected Conservatives on the more centrist end of the party who are now willing to do the same.
Comments