A well-known Conservative peer has hinted that he could jump ship to Reform after 42 years of membership, due to his current party’s “woeful record on immigration”. Lord Jackson on Peterborough, a former MP and advisor on Brexit in Theresa May’s government, took aim at Kemi Badenoch for failing to “set out… a compelling and attractive” policy platform following their worst election defeat ever.

Lord Jackson blasted the Tory party for not having “adequately addressed its own abysmal final period in office, especially its woeful record on immigration.” He told The Telegraph that while he doesn’t have any plans at the moment to jump ship, “I would also neither rule out joining Reform nor voting for the party but in any event. I believe an electoral arrangement is most likely as the imperative is to remove this damaging Labour Government.”

His stark warning to the party’s current leadership comes a day after leaked WhatsApp messages showed rising vocal discontent among Tory MPs towards the party’s messaging on immigration.

Texts revealed by ConservativeHome showed members of the 2024 intake blasting a post from the Tory Party HQ X account listing all the benefits and perks to which illegal migrants are entitled.

While the Conservatives used this to criticise the current government’s policy, Tory MPs pointed out that the previous government “gave them all this too".

Lewis Cocking, a hardline member of the new MP intake, fumed: “This makes us look silly as we gave them all this too, which is why we are in the mess we are in today. Completely unacceptable – they should be put in detention centres and deported.”

Ben Obese-Jecty sent an X reply to the Tory post from Nigel Farage, reading “They [the Conservatives] should be in hiding”. Mr Obese-Jecty noted: “As predicted.”

Mr Cocking replied: “Well I did say and no one seems to listen. I have an asylum hotel and the community is ripping itself apart and it's okay for everyone that doesn't. We did this and we must come up with a policy that solves it.”

Ms Badenoch is preparing for an incredibly tough first party conference as leader this October, as she hopes to insist to members that her plan is worth sticking with despite languishing poll ratings.

This morning a prominent Conservative councillor and political commentator, Tom Jones, wrote a damning column calling on his party’s MPs to ditch Ms Badenoch in favour of Robert Jenrick.

He pointed to her leadership seeing the Tories go from a small poll lead to facing being overtaken by the LibDems and dropping into fourth place.

Mr Jones wrote: “Kemi, you’re not very good at this. That I could forgive, if I felt like you were trying, but it seems like you lose half an hour in the morning and spend the rest of the day looking for it. I could forgive it, too, if I felt you were enjoying it; but every time I see you, you remind me of the spokesperson for a crumbling regime, your message intended as much to convince yourself as the audience.

“The only thing keeping her in post is that her pride has not yet sunk to the level of her fortune. So I say to those few Tries who still matter; garbage time has run out. Robert Jenrick is already the unofficial Leader. Push what is falling.”