Tory MPs On Lib Dem Defection Watch
3 min read
Liberal Democrat figures believe Conservative MPs could be tempted to defect as the Tories prepare for a stark internal divide over the European Convention on Human Rights.
Several Lib Dem figures told PoliticsHome that there have been informal discussions with Tory MPs on the 'left' of their party who are uneasy with shifting further to the right to combat the threat of Nigel Farage's Reform UK.
One Lib Dem MP involved in talks said: “Doors are not being slammed in our faces."
Another told PoliticsHome they have spoken to at least two Conservative MPs who are also unhappy about the party’s stance on net zero, claiming that they are "looking" at the Lib Dems as a potential new "home".
Badenoch has declared that achieving net zero by 2050 is "impossible".
As well as being Labour government policy, the 2050 target used to be Tory policy.
“There are clearly a lot of people in the Conservative Party who are wound up with what is going on with their party now," said the Lib Dem MP.
"They’re looking at the Liberal Democrats as a home where they can get back to fighting for the things they care about."
"They don't want to be talking about banning the burka," they added.
PoliticsHome understands Lib Dems are targeting constituency neighbours with whom they have already formed relationships.
Conservative leader Badenoch announced last week that shadow attorney general Lord Wolfson would lead a review into whether the UK should leave the ECHR, with a verdict expected at the party's Autumn conference in Manchester.
The Leader of the Opposition said in a speech that the UK would "likely" have to leave the international agreement to tackle illegal immigration.
She also told The Telegraph that Tories who disagree with the policy face being blocked from standing for the party as candidates — a warning that suggests a major internal rupture could be on the horizon.
PoliticsHome can reveal that internal disagreement on the ECHR was on display when two Tory MPs engaged in what was described by witnesses as a "very animated" recent row in Parliament's tearoom.
Alec Shelbrooke, the MP for Wetherby and Easingwold, who opposes immediately quitting the agreement, confirmed the exchange with his Tory colleague Lewis Cocking, MP for Broxbourne, but sought to play it down.
"I wouldn't say it's a split, it's a discussion. There are those who want to leave the ECHR, a puritanical view, and then there are those of us who see it as a process."
It comes as Badenoch faces pressure to improve her party's poor polling amid warnings that the Tories face descending into electoral irrelevance.
Some Tories on the left of the party fear that the leadership's current strategy is too preoccupied with fighting Farage, at the expense of working out how to deal with the threat of Ed Davey's Lib Dems.
The Lib Dems did huge damage to the Conservatives in traditional Tory parts of southern England at the July general election, winning swathes of seats and defeating former Cabinet ministers including Gillian Keegan, Alex Chalk and Michelle Donelan.
This trend of the Lib Dems eating the old Tory vote continued at last month's local elections.
Reform leader Farage was recently overheard saying that the next election will not be left versus right, but “Reform populism versus Lib Dem progressivism”, suggesting that for many Conservative MPs, the best way of stopping Reform is to stand as a Lib Dem.
One Conservative MP dismissed suggestions that Tories could defect, however, telling PoliticsHome: “I would never defect — it’s much easier to get a new leader."
