The ravens really are leaving the Tower. Last week, it was Andrea Jenkyns quitting the Tories; this week it is the turn of an even bigger name. Tim Montgomerie – the founder of Conservative Home – has today been announced as the latest prominent Conservative to switch to Reform UK. The party posted a picture of Montgomerie beaming with leader Nigel Farage and chairman Zia Yusuf on its X account.

‘After 33 years in the Conservative party’, it read, ‘Tim Montgomerie, former adviser to Boris Johnson and creator and editor of Conservative Home, has joined Reform UK.’ Ahead of a ‘special announcement’, new week a senior party source told Mr S that ‘We have all the momentum in British politics – Reform are reconstituting the centre right.’

The move has been a long time coming: in June, Montgomerie said that if he lived in certain constituencies such as Clacton or Boston and Skegness he would have voted for the Reform candidate there. Back then, the co-founder of the Centre for Social Justice was talking about building a ‘unite-the-right movement’ post-election.

Now it sounds less like a unity movement and more of a hostile takeover…