Robert Jenrick was the main contender when current party leader Kemi Badenoch was elected Tory leader in 2024.
He had previously been a minister in three governments and, until Thursday, was the party's Shadow Justice Secretary, before he was accused of "planning a defection". And now he has joined Nigel Farage's right-wing populist Reform Party.
"I don't trust the Tory Party," he said at a press conference, Sky News reported, and continued:
"Nigel represents the real change our country has needed for more than a decade."
In an opinion poll published last week, the Reform Party once again became the largest party in the country.
