PULSE POINTS
WHAT HAPPENED: Two Westminster City Councillors defected from the Conservatives (Tories) to Nigel Farage’s Reform Party, with one joining the populist leader’s foreign policy team.
WHO WAS INVOLVED: Councillors Laila Cunningham and Alan Mendoza, alongside Nigel Farage and Westminster Labour Council Leader Adam Hug.
WHEN & WHERE: Westminster, London, in recent days.
KEY QUOTE: “Britain today is in abject crisis. At home and abroad, our leaders seem determined to chart a course of national and international decline.” – Alan Mendoza
IMPACT: Reform anticipates a “massive surge” in councillors, with predictions of gains in London boroughs and increased political competition.
IN FULL
Alan Mendoza, a Conservative (Tory) member of Westminster City Council in London and a co-founder of the Henry Jackson Society think tank, has defected to Nigel Farage’s Reform Party and will advise Farage on foreign policy and geopolitics. Mendoza stated, “Britain today is in abject crisis. At home and abroad, our leaders seem determined to chart a course of national and international decline.”
He added, “The British people deserve better than this. And in Reform UK we finally have a party who will put our interests first, and ensure that our tomorrow is better than our today.” Mendoza won his municipal government seat in the 2022 local elections and has served on Westminster’s audit and performance committee and budget scrutiny task group. Westminster Council runs a key London borough, centered around the Palace of Westminster, which is home to the Houses of Parliament.
Farage welcomed Mendoza, emphasizing his “intricate understanding of foreign policy and experience in global affairs” as an asset to his party. “I look forward to working closely with him as we continue to shape our policy platform in the months and years ahead,” he added.
Councillor Laila Cunningham also defected to Reform, citing frustration with the Conservatives, who governed Britain largely from the center-left from 2010 to mid-2024. “I am tired of defending failure,” Cunningham said, predicting a “massive surge” in Reform councillors in London at the upcoming municipal elections in May.
Image by Gage Skidmore.
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