Sarah Atherton, a former Conservative armed forces minister, has joined Reform UK after leaving the Tory party in August. The former MP for Wrexham said: "The Conservatives promised strength but delivered weakness."
Atherton served as MP from 2019 to 2024 and was appointed armed forces minister by Liz Truss for just 37 days. Before entering politics, she served in the intelligence corps and later trained as a nurse.
The former minister has a history of standing against her own party on Armed Forces matters. She resigned as a parliamentary private secretary to the Foreign Office in 2021 over Conservative plans to keep sexual offences against female troops tried within military courts.
Criticism of both major parties
Writing in the Daily Express on Thursday, Atherton launched scathing attacks on both Conservative and Labour handling of military affairs. She said: "After years in Parliament, I came to the same conclusion many soldiers, sailors and aviators already know: the system doesn't listen."
According to Atherton, troop numbers are at their lowest in modern history, with recruitment targets repeatedly missed and military families still housed in "damp, mouldy quarters". She added: "The Navy struggles to crew the ships we have, while the RAF mothballs aircraft faster than it replaces them."
She later voted against the Armed Forces Bill as a Conservative MP, stating: "It was career-limiting, but the right thing to do. For me, allegiance to King and Country always outweighs blind loyalty."
Reform UK's appeal
Atherton explained her decision to join Reform UK by citing the party's patriotism and values. She wrote: "From its inception, Reform has been unashamedly patriotic, built on the core value of Britain first."
She described Reform as "the only party fighting to ensure the people's voices are heard and the only one serious about restoring our Armed Forces". The defection adds Atherton to a growing list of former Conservative MPs who have joined Reform UK, including Dame Andrea Jenkyns, Nadine Dorries and Adam Holloway.
Conservative leadership response
Separately, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch rejected Prime Minister Keir Starmer's suggestion that the Tory party was "dead". She told ITV Anglia: "He's not right about anything. In fact, if the Prime Minister said that the sky was blue, I'd go out and check it again."
Badenoch claimed Starmer wants an election where he faces Reform "because that will be easier for him" and accused the Prime Minister of being "terrified" of the Conservatives. She added that her party is showing it has "learned the lessons from the mistakes we made when we were in government".
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
