Do I, as a former Conservative Cabinet minister, now regret my decision to join Reform? That’s the question I was asked by Laura Kuenssberg on her Sunday TV show and by several other media outlets over the weekend.
My answer, in every case, was an emphatic ‘no’.
I don’t desert my friends and colleagues when they are under pressure for trying to do the right thing. That’s when I put my shoulder to the wheel and push harder.
It’s fair to say that, in recent weeks, Nigel Farage has faced a difficult set of circumstances: from the media storm surrounding the £72million given to Reform last month by political donors, to last week’s damaging ITV documentary.
The channel sent undercover journalists to work in Reform HQ and out in regional offices for 12 months, during which time they uncovered a number of deplorable comments made by a relatively small number of Reform personnel.
I have my views about how ITV conducted its investigation. Interestingly, the documentary highlighted Reform’s process for vetting candidates. Perhaps ITV should put its house in order first.
I don’t desert my friends and colleagues when they are under pressure for trying to do the right thing. That’s when I put my shoulder to the wheel and push harder, writes NADINE DORRIES
Nigel Farage has faced the media storm surrounding the £72million given to Reform by political donors
After all, this is a channel that has given platforms to the disgraced presenter Phillip Schofield and Russell Brand, who is currently on trial for rape charges. (By the way, Reform is the only political party to vet council candidates and employ an independent agency to scrutinise all applications.)
I will not defend any of the comments ITV uncovered. But I will say this: send undercover journalists into almost any political organisation and I suspect they would emerge with similarly spicy material.
Imperfect people exist in every walk of life. What a shame ITV didn’t choose to investigate the Labour Party, which has its own long and troubled history of anti-Semitism within its ranks.
ITV’s attack on Reform has made me more determined than ever to support Nigel, who has vowed to return every illegal migrant in the UK to their country of origin and to do the same with legal immigrants who break the law.
As we watch French cities burn and riots erupt on the streets of Milan, Brussels and Lisbon, one thing is becoming increasingly clear to me: if you allow your national identity and heritage to be eroded, if uncontrolled migration continues, draining Government coffers and limiting money available to spend on public services, then you will turn your country into a tinder box. And, at some point, it will ignite.
I spent 25 years serving the Conservative Party in Westminster, at every level from chairwoman to minister and Secretary of State. Yet at no point during that time would I have felt able to speak as openly as I have here about the dangers of uncontrolled immigration.
There was a time when the few Conservative MPs who shared my views were dismissed by the party hierarchy as ‘swivel-eyed loons’. What a difference a year makes. Since joining Reform in September 2025, I feel liberated to express my beliefs – beliefs I know most British people share.
I can now speak freely about my desire to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, under a party leader who has been unwavering in his commitment to that cause for the past 30 years.
Nigel doesn’t change his opinions or policies according to how desperately he wants to climb the opinion polls. It’s a refreshing change from Labour and the Conservatives, parties now stuffed to the gunnels with self-interested career politicians who all sound the same once they achieve power.
There’s no chance of that happening with Farage. Much has been made of the two-point, post-conference lead the Tories are currently enjoying over Reform in the polls. Some overexcited commentators have even declared that Reform is finished and we are returning to the cosy two-party system that has failed this country for so long.
I’m amazed the gap is only two points, given the months of turbulence Reform has endured as the Establishment throws everything it has at sinking my party – bar the kitchen sink.
Many of us are still grieving following the brutal, cold-blooded murder of our beloved justice spokeswoman, Ann Widdecombe, in July. We now know that, months before Ann’s murder, the man suspected of killing her allegedly tried to batter down the front door of Nigel’s home, armed with a bottle of lighter fluid. He is also alleged to have written a ‘kill list’ of Reform MPs, former MPs and other key figures. I have yet to learn if I was on that list. But even with the suspect behind bars, the danger has not passed.
Only last week, a Reform councillor was sent a parcel containing suspected toxic asbestos through the post.
And yet Nigel continues to face criticism for accepting a £5million gift to fund his private security for life – a matter about which he has been questioned by the standards commissioner.
Meanwhile, he and our deputy leader Richard Tice are taking legal action against the National Crime Agency which, they say, has leaked their personal banking details. It’s clear to me that Reform’s enemies are trying to bring us down via a war of attrition. Death by a thousand cuts.
Nigel will survive these difficult times and come through them, even stronger. Reform isn’t going anywhere – and the sooner the Establishment accepts that, the better.
I feel betrayed by Celeb Traitors
The show’s golden girl and Traitor Maya Jama has claimed it was freezing on The Celebrity Traitors and she had to wear coats indoors
Sorry, but this year’s ultra-woke edition of The Celebrity Traitors continues to be a huge disappointment. A potentially stellar cast ruined by a glut of comedians, few of whom are even funny.
As the Daily Mail’s Showbusiness Editor Katie Hind revealed, there have been reports of clashes between this egotistical bunch.
This is just the latest negative story to emerge from what sounds like a thoroughly miserable experience at Ardross Castle. The show’s golden girl Maya Jama has claimed it was freezing and she had to wear coats indoors. Did some BBC health-and-safety jobsworth decide it would be too dangerous to light the log fires?
I’m glad, however, to see the backs of Rob Beckett, reportedly a divisive figure, and Joe Lycett, who dresses like a cross between a drag queen and a sad clown.
Has he ever actually made anyone laugh? My fingers are crossed the remaining ‘comics’ – James Acaster and Romesh Ranganathan – are picked off next.
I think Andy Burnham has been reading this column. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the plague of selfish passengers who insist on playing loud music or videos on trains. Now the Government is urging local authorities to use their powers to fine those who spoil everyone else’s journey, while a campaign launched today is encouraging passengers to avoid making calls on speakerphone and to listen to music and videos through headphones.
Why not go one step further and make every train carriage a quiet carriage?
What about Ukraine, Zack
Appearing on Kuenssberg’s sofa on Sunday morning was a surreal experience. On one side of me sat Dale Vince, the keffiyeh-wearing, vegan, Net Zero zealot, multi-millionaire owner of green energy company Ecotricity and donor to Labour and Just Stop Oil.
On the other was Green Party leader Zack Polanski. Polanski was unequivocal in his refusal to overturn the Greens’ controversial ‘Zionism is racism’ motion, passed at their party conference. He defended his position by declaring that no ‘state has a right to exist’. I’d like to see him tell that to Volodymyr Zelensky and the people of Ukraine.