Frost or Truss: who's the next failed Tory on the Reform bandwagon?

With Nigel Farage eagerly filling in his Panini Failed Ministers of the Tory Government 2019-24 sticker book, might he soon have one or two more to add to his collection?

Hours after Suella Braverman, sacked as home secretary twice in the space of a year, became the latest ex-minister to ditch the Tories for Reform, another former Conservative minister appeared to hint they may be following suit.

Peer David ‘Frosty’ Frost – the man who quit as a Cabinet Office minister in 2021 in protest at the Brexit deal he himself negotiated – posted on X a picture of himself and Braverman with suspiciously turquoise-looking ice creams and the message: “It was great to campaign with Suella back at the 2024 election. We’ve always seen things the same way.”

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Frost currently sits as a non-affiliated peer in the Lords to allow him to serve as director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, a role which, as it’s a charity, requires him to be nominally independent. Might being the very first Reform member of the House of Lords – and possibly a member of Nigel Farage’s shadow cabinet – be enough to tempt the whisky peddler turned Brexit bodger over?

Meanwhile, is Farage softening his stance in allowing Liz Truss into his party? The Reform leader has always been adamant there is no room for the hapless former prime minister among his ranks, with the party’s press team saying as recently as Saturday that “Liz Truss would not be welcome in Reform UK” amid rumours Farage was having a change of heart.

On Monday, however, the Reform leader was contradicting his team, saying at Braverman’s unveiling: “I didn’t say that. I said it was unlikely.” Is the door opening for a Truss defection? If so, he might as well just let Boris Johnson in, allow him to take over as leader and stop pretending Reform is anything other than the Conservative Party in slightly different-coloured ties.

While Truss twists in the wind, rumours continue to swirl about another blonde Tory signing for Reform. Alas, not Michael Fabricant, but toothy Tatton MP Esther McVey. Bookies Star Sports are no longer taking bets on her being the next to defect.