A core function of political parties is to nurture talent and, in some cases, provide a credible path to power for ambitious politicians. In this fraught climate, Reform UK increasingly appears to be an alternative route for those who see no such path via the Conservative party.

Before Robert Jenrick’s sacking (over his own supposed plan to defect), Nadhim Zahawi was the latest, and arguably the most high-profile, Conservative to throw his lot in with Reform. It seems a growing number of former Conservative MPs and councillors see Reform as a second chance at political relevance.

A former chancellor of the exchequer, albeit for just two months at the tail end of Boris Johnson’s premiership, Zahawi brings with him the symbolic capital of high office.

In announcing his switch, Zahawi claimed that only a “glorious revolution” could fix a “broken” Britain: “Nothing works, there is no growth, there is crime on our streets, and there is an avalanche of illegal migration that anywhere else in the world would be a national emergency.” The rhetoric is familiar, but the messenger matters.

Zahawi’s defection comes at a delicate moment for Nigel Farage. As Farage faces renewed scrutiny over

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