Reform's new star signings already at odds

Nigel Farage’s Reform were cock-a-hoop when they signed up Tory defectors Andrea Jenkyns and Tim Montgomerie within days of each other – so what a tragedy they’re already at each others’ throats!

The pair were publicly squabbling over the weekend after Jenkyns, a three-month former education minister, attacked her former colleague, ex-Tory MP and Kinder Küche Kirche crackpot Miriam Cates.

Cates, now inevitably a GB News presenter after losing her Penistone and Stocksbridge seat at the general election, had penned a piece for her new employer’s website questioning whether Reform had a coherent political philosophy.

That immediately earned a rebuke from Jenkyns, who described her one-time political soulmate on X as “part of the problem of the demise of the Conservative Party”. She wrote: “You publicly called for Boris to resign and to back Rishi for leader. You only won your seat because of Boris and Brexit. Incidentally you voted remain and didn’t back brexit [sic], and I recall you celebrating Net Zero carbon capture! You have had somewhat different views of late. At least @reformparty_uk are listening to the electorate.”

Montgomerie, the founder of Tory in-house journal Conservative Home then waded in, saying that “unlike my friend and fellow Reform newbie @andreajenkyns I think we shouldn’t get defensive when people say Reform’s current policy offer needs more work. It does. It’s a young party that hasn’t had the time or resources to do much beyond campaigning.”

He added: “While we can answer some of her challenges now because of great work done by @TiceRichard (in particular) i’d [sic] say voters have seen the wheels fall of [sic] Tory and Labour policies and will need us to show we won’t be the same.”

Jenkyns then hit back, writing: “Tim, I am not defensive at all. Constructive feedback is good. But, I just do not respect fake Conservatives schooling what we do when they are disingenuous themselves, and completely u-turn on their views. I prefer people to be straight talking and honest, and to be themselves, whatever their views.”

To which Montgomerie responded: “Do you really see Miriam as a fake?”. To which Jenkyns did not respond. Might it be that it wasn’t Cates she was deriding as a pretender, but… Montgomerie himself?

Either way, observers of any of the many parties Farage has led over the years know what happens when biggish names from outside sign up and start trying to make a noise themselves. Odds on either or both of them no longer being in Reform by the end of 2025…?