'Braverman is the very reason there should be automatic byelections if someone defects.'
Reform’s latest Tory recruit, Suella Braverman, proved once more how devoid of principles she is after confirming she believed in by-elections but that she wouldn’t be holding one in her own constituency following her defection.
Farage has previously said that when MPs cross the floor, they should put themselves up for a by-election.
When Tory MP Christian Wakeford defected from the Tories to Labour that year, Farage said: “What right do members of parliament have to cross the floor, to join different parties, when they’ve been elected under a particular ticket… He should put himself up for a by-election.”
He doesn’t however seem to keen to follow his own advice when it comes to the Tory MPs who have defected to Reform.
And when Braverman was asked if she would hold a by-election in her constituency of Fareham and Waterlooville, she gave a pretty confusing answer, claiming to believe in by-elections but ruling it out in her own case.
She said: “If I were leaving the Labour Party to go to the Conservatives, or government to go to the opposition, I think there’s a very strong case there for a by-election.
“But as you heard, I spent the last general election apologising for being a Conservative, and I believe that I won that seat despite wearing a Conservative rosette, not because of it.”
She was mocked for her reply, with one social media user writing on X: “Suella Braverman says that she believes that if an MP changes party there should be a by election.
“But then explains why after she’s changed party there shouldn’t be a by election in her constituency.”
Another wrote: “Braverman is the very reason there should be automatic byelections if someone defects.
“Reform were not wanted in Fareham and Waterlooville – they could only come 4th She no longer represents her constituency.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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