Top Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg addresses Reform defection after Nadine Dorries

Jacob Rees-Mogg has ruled out joining Reform UK - saying he will be staying a Conservative supporter.

The former Conservative minister has been on defection watch amid a number of high-profile Tories ditching the party to join Nigel Farage's right-wing outfit.

The Mirror spotted Sir Jacob milling about Reform UK's party conference in Birmingham - ahead of him speaking on a panel later today on how Reform can succeed in office by learning lessons from Donald Trump.

Asked if he was at the conference to join Reform UK, Sir Jacob told The Mirror: "No, I'm here to do a fringe meeting." Asked if he was ruling it out entirely, he said: "I'm remaining a Tory."

READ MORE: 'Nigel Farage upstaged by bizarre moment despite Trump-style Reform speech'

Rumours have been swirling that the former House of Commons leader may join Reform UK. Last week, a Tory party insider told The Sun: “We have Jacob on defection watch. His politics are far closer to Nigel’s than Kemi’s and his seat is going to go to Reform.

“If he wants to come back as a politician — and he does — he will need to defect. It would be a massive blow to us though, and Reform’s biggest defection by a mile.”

It comes after former Tory frontbencher and I'm A Celeb star Nadine Dorries was unveiled as the latest Tory to defect to Reform UK. Ms Dorries, who has spent more than two years trying to convince the world that Boris Johnson was the victim of an underhand Conservative plot, whined that her old party is "dead".

In a brutal jibe at Kemi Badenoch she said: "The Conservative Party cannot win the next election. It removes election winning prime ministers, and replaces them with duds."

Other ex-Tories who have joined Reform include Marco Longhi, Anne Marie Morris, Ross Thomson, Aiden Burley and Sir Jake Berry, a former Tory chairman.

Former Tory minister and Boris Johnson ally Dame Andrea Jenkyns is also among those to defect to Reform. The now mayor of Greater Lincolnshire yesterday entered the stage for her speech at Reform conference in a fully sequinned blue jumpsuit singing about “insomniacs”.

As she strutted in high heels, Dame Andrea repeatedly sang the line “I’m an insomniac” as she spread both her arms out to the crowd, in a strange attempt to supposedly mimic a pop star.

READ MORE: Join our Mirror politics WhatsApp group to get the latest updates from Westminster