Reform defections mean Tories can get back to being the party of business
With plans to nationalise key industries and even individual companies like Rolls-Royce, it’s clear that Reform are the party of the big state. Kemi Badenoch should reclaim the Conservative mantel as the party of business, says Oliver Dean
On Sunday night, Andrew Rosindell became the latest Conservative to defect to Reform UK. He joined the likes of Robert Jenrick, Nadhim Zahawi and Nadine Dorries – all of whom have jumped ship. To many, this looks like a Party in terminal decline. Yet, these defections give Kemi Badenoch an opportunity. They give her the chance to rebuild and realign the Conservatives as a liberal, pro-business party that can reclaim the centre-right.
It may seem counterintuitive to move the Tories towards the centre-ground. As Britain becomes more divided, it would appear that moderate politics is a dying tradition. Centre-ground politics is often mistaken for weakness and indecisiveness. Yet, the recent defections have created political space. Rosindell, Jenrick and Zahawi were all seen as sitting on the right of the Party – a faction far removed from the Ken Clarkes and Dominic Grieves of earlier years.
There is no doubt that others will join them. Farage’s imposition of a deadline to jump ship will force many Tories’ hands, and Reform will certainly grow in size in the coming months. And yet, despite all of this, the recent Tory psychodrama has provided some level of clarity for Badenoch. What veteran campaigner Lynton Crosby would label a “scraping the barnacles off the boat”, these defections may well serve to solidify Badenoch’s leadership. Her position is almost certainly safe until 2029, and her handling of the Jenrick affair proved her to be a decisive leader, with many claiming she has “proved her strength” by kneecapping Jenrick’s plot.
But this in itself is not enough. She must go further with this newly-found momentum. She must differentiate herself more vehemently from Reform. Too often, under her leadership, she has tried to emulate or, indeed, ‘out-Reform Reform’. If she is to take the Tories back to a sensible, pro-business position, then she must take charge on economic matters.
To give Badenoch credit, she is already taking steps in the right direction. Attacking the employer NI contributions increase, as well as pledging to scrap stamp duty during the Conservative Party Conference are all positive signs for a future Conservative government. In December 2025, she and shadow chancellor Mel Stride met with more than 130 business leaders to discuss the current hurdles facing businesses across the country. She made it clear that under a Conservative government, high street business rates would be slashed and the Employment Rights Bill would be repealed. Time and again, Badenoch has proven that she understands business – something that the current government and indeed other parties have repeatedly failed to do.
Cost of business
As a result of this government, for example, the cost of hiring a full-time worker who is earning minimum wage has risen by £3,413 since 2024 – up to a total of £25,852. The taxes that employers will have to fork out per employee has jumped by a staggering 68 per cent as well, forcing businesses to turn down potential employees. These problems materialised in late 2025, when unemployment rose to 5 per cent – the highest rate in four years. Labour’s insistence on tax and spend as a long-term strategy is evidently strangling the economy, and working people are paying the price.
Other parties do little to champion business either. Reform, for instance, is nothing more than a party of big statism – whether they care to admit it or not. Under their proposed plans for nationalisation of key industries, taxpayers will be footing an enormous bill that some estimates put as high as £50bn. Were this not bad enough, their insistence on “partially” nationalising Rolls-Royce sends a worrying message to businesses that may be considering investing in the UK. If Rolls-Royce is not immune to government intervention, why, then, would other companies be? Even the Liberal Democrats, as electorally insignificant as they may be, have floated ideas of nationalisation in the past.
What is clear, therefore, is that Badenoch faces a choice. She can continue to be a Reform tribute act, shifting the party further to the right and alienating those in the centre. Or, she can take the sensible path forward. She can expand into the space that recent defections have opened up and move towards the centre-right. She can continue to prove that the Conservative Party can offer a credible solution to Britain’s economic woes that puts businesses first. If she can do that, businesses will rightfully put their confidence in her.
Oliver Dean is a political commentator with Young Voices UK. He studies History and Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where he is the President of the LSE Hayek Society.