Cllr Christopher Marlow defected from the Conservatives last week claiming the party was filled with “principled patriots”
Reform has revealed it is speaking to “three or four” Tory councillors in Bromley in the hope of recruiting them ahead of next year’s local elections. This comes after the council’s former executive member in charge of finance defected from the Conservatives last week.
Reform Bromley announced Christopher Marlow’s defection on October 7. He said Reform “can deliver the change this country really needs” after leaving the Conservatives whom he had supported for 20 years.
The right wing populist party led by Nigel Farage has now gained its second councillor in the South London borough after Alan Cook was previously elected in a July by-election, becoming Reform’s first directly elected London councillor. Both men will appear at a full Bromley Council meeting this evening (October 13) representing Reform in the chamber for the first time.
Cllr Marlow had been Bromley’s Executive Member for Resources, Commissioning and Contract Management since 2022 before his defection. Having “lost faith” in the Conservatives earlier this year, he decided to speak to local Reform members and found the party to be filled with “principled patriots”, he claims.
Cllr Marlow said: “Although I’ve previously been a Conservative, I’ve always respected Nigel Farage for the consistency of his views on thinking that Britain should be an independent sovereign country outside the EU. He advocated that initially from the wilderness until victory in the 2016 referendum.
“The fact that he chose to stand down his own party’s candidates in 2019 to help ensure there was a majority for leaving the EU in parliament, shows that he puts the country before party.”
Cllr Marlow claims that all the conversations he’s had with his former Tory colleagues have been positive since the announcement. He wants the parties to work together in Bromley “where appropriate, to promote the best interests of our residents”.
He added: “I’ve become active in politics because I want to achieve things, and I think Reform is the party that will achieve the changes that I think the country needs to see at both a national level and a local level.
“For the first time in a long time, I feel optimistic and positive, both about the future of Bromley, but also the future of the country. It will undoubtedly feel strange to face my former colleagues across the council chamber, but ultimately it’s on political grounds and it’s nothing personal.”
Cllr Cook was “very happy” that Cllr Marlow had defected to Reform. He said: “He’s a real bonus for us. It’s pretty much ripped the heart out of the Tory party in Bromley because he was their future. He’s our future now. He’s a young, intelligent guy and he’s what every party would want in their assets.”
Cllr Cook still wants to grow the Reform party at Bromley Council, and revealed that he’s currently speaking to “three or four” more Conservative members who are hoping to defect.
Despite trying to hoover up sitting Conservative councillors, he says he doesn’t want Bromley to become “a second-hand Tory party” and he’s aiming to “steal the best and leave the rest”. Cllr Cook added: “The Tory party is literally dying in front of us, so there’s no harm taking the good bits out before it collapses completely.”
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