Kemi Badenoch blasts Tory splitters 'who want to be a notch on Nigel Farage's bed post'

Kemi Badenoch has said she won’t be distracted by Tory defectors who “want to be a notch on Nigel Farage’s bed post” as she battles to turn round her party's ailing fortunes.

Former Defence Minister Sarah Atherton became the 18th ex-Tory to join Reform UK on Thursday, in a blow to Ms Badenoch ahead of Conservative conference at the weekend. Last month, sitting MP Danny Kruger defected to Mr Farage's party.

The Tories will gather in Manchester at the weekend amid recriminations over dismal poll ratings and a string of defections to Reform. Ms Badenoch said Mr Farage was likely to try "a stunt or two" to distract attention during the conference but sought to downplay the impact of Tories joining Reform.

She told ConservativeHome: “If people want to be notches on Nigel Farage’s bedpost, I will remind them of people who went to Labour.

READ MORE: Kemi Badenoch makes embarrassing Brexit gaffe despite claiming she never makes gaffes

"The same thing happened when Labour was doing well last year, just before the election, we had Dan Poulter and Natalie Elphicke [Tories who joined Labour] cross the floor. Lots of people run to the party they think is ahead.”

She added: “We’ve got, we need, people who believe in what we believe.”

Pressure is mounting on Ms Badenoch after a torrid first year in charge, which has seen Reform steal a march among right-wing voters. But she said she had to focus on rebuilding as the party was at risk of going bankrupt after the disastrous general election defeat.

She added: "The way to do that is going to be painful, very, very painful, and we have to stay the course, hold our nerve and endure it, and then we will come out the other side.

"If we flap every single moment and worry why we haven’t got there after one day, or after one month, or after one year, we’re not going to get there.”

Polling from YouGov found one in five (21%) voters think it’s likely that the Tories will no longer be a major force in 10 years’ time. Nearly half (45%) think Ms Badenoch has done badly as leader, and just one in five (20%) think she has done well.

It comes after she made a Brexit blunder during a TV interview - casting doubt on her previous claim that she never makes gaffes. The Conservative leader mistakenly claimed that Northern Ireland voted to leave the EU during an interview with BBC News NI.

She told the broadcaster: "The last time I checked, Northern Ireland did vote to leave." In fact, voters in Northern Ireland supported staying in the EU in 2016 - by a majority of 56% to 44%.

When the error was pointed out, she said: "I do recognise the people of Northern Ireland voted to remain and we came up with a settlement - it wasn't perfect, but it tried to make sure we had a way of Northern Ireland getting the best of both worlds."

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