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UK\u2019s former Conservative Party leadership candidate Robert Jenrick became the biggest-name defector to Nigel Farage\u2019s right-wing Reform UK on Thursday, saying the nation was broken and its two mainstream political parties rotten.<\/strong><\/p>\n Sacked by the Conservatives when his potential switch was leaked, Jenrick appeared alongside Farage at a press conference, the latest of 21 current or former Conservative lawmakers to join Reform.<\/p>\n Farage\u2019s anti-immigration party is ahead of both Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s Labour and Kemi Badenoch\u2019s Conservatives in polls before an election due in 2029 that could end the two-party system dominating for more than a century.<\/p>\n \u201cThe two main parties are rotten,\u201d Jenrick, 44, said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are no longer fit for purpose. They both broke UK, and neither can fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n Jenrick, who served in a number of senior government roles including immigration minister, was the second sitting Conservative lawmaker to switch to Reform, giving it six seats in parliament.<\/p>\n Badenoch had earlier announced Jenrick\u2019s sacking from her policy team and suspension from the party after she received evidence showing he was planning to defect.<\/p>\n He lost to her in the 2024 contest to lead the main opposition party after their crushing national election defeat and was then, in an effort to reunite the Conservatives, given the role of justice spokesperson.<\/p>\n The former centrist, who is a qualified lawyer, used that position to build a personal profile on issues like immigration and crime that many saw as a platform for a future challenge to Badenoch\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n \u2018THANK YOU KEMI BADENOCH\u2019, SAYS SARCASTIC FARAGE<\/strong><\/p>\n Reform\u2019s popularity has come despite criticism from opponents that it lacks fleshed-out plans for power and has focused mainly on criticising others. In a bid to professionalise, the party has jettisoned members accused of racism and bullying and distanced itself from far-right movements in other European nations.<\/p>\n Farage said Badenoch\u2019s decision to kick Jenrick out of the Conservatives had accelerated talks about him joining Reform, which Jenrick said had begun in September last year.<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to say thank you to Kemi Badenoch,\u201d Farage said. \u201cYou\u2019ve handed me on a plate the man that is by far the most popular figure (in the Conservative Party).\u201d<\/p>\n The Conservatives are UK\u2019s oldest and most successful political party, governing for 32 of the last 46 years.<\/p>\n But their reputation has been badly damaged by a 14-year spell in power that included the hugely divisive Brexit referendum, several chaotic leadership changes and market crises, ending in the party\u2019s worst electoral defeat.<\/p>\n Jenrick said he had not always agreed with Farage but described UK as \u201con the brink\u201d with welfare, immigration and net zero energy policy among the biggest problems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n