Switching from one party to another is not necessarily wicked. One of the greatest politicians who ever lived, Winston Churchill, did so twice, from Tory to Liberal in 1904, and back again in 1924.
In the end, the Tories (luckily for us all) cautiously welcomed him back.
Adults have to learn to treat each other’s differences with patience and respect.
The voting public loathe feuds among their leaders and punish them.
So, in the coming days, both Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch may regret some of their more stinging remarks about Mr Jenrick’s sudden forced departure from the Tories, and his rapid, if awkward, embrace by Nigel Farage of Reform.
Sooner or later these people will, we believe, need to speak to each other again, with civility and consideration.
So why dig a great trench of anger and resentment between each other? Why squabble like infants in a nursery?
In truth, the political gap between the Tories and Reform grows narrower as relations between them become more pointlessly bitter.
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party speaks to protesters outside a proposed site for a new Chinese Embassy on January 17
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage answers questions of the media during a press conference at the party’s headquarters in London
Under Mrs Badenoch, the Tory ship has quietly steered to the Right, especially on such issues as migration and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Meanwhile, canny Mr Farage has swung away from some of his wilder economic promises, sobered by the real possibility that he may be in government before long.
The defections from Tories to Reform have been part of that process. The fact senior and experienced Tory ex-ministers are prepared to adopt a new party has brought home to Mrs Badenoch that many of her former voters are so discontented they are equally willing to change allegiance.
There is nothing wrong with that. It is one of the ways in which our two-party system rebalances itself.
In Canada in the 1990s, the success of Preston Manning’s Right-wing Reform Party helped to drag that country’s Conservatives away from wishy-washy centrism and back into office.
At the moment, Mr Farage can have far more influence on the Tory Party from outside than from inside.
But in the end, the only purpose of this is to put conservatism, patriotism, national independence and economic common sense back into power.
Britain’s former Conservative Party Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick speaks, during a press conference to announce his defection to Reform UK
It is no good Mr Farage creating a huge new party if the outcome is to split the patriotic vote and leave Sir Keir Starmer (or whoever takes over from him) safely in Downing Street, messing up the nation and strangling the economy.
This is a real danger, as the 2024 election proved.
Mr Farage, Mrs Badenoch and Mr Jenrick should all be keenly aware of it. A Tory government was elected in 2019 in a landslide victory with a majority of 80, the best since 1987. This was largely thanks to one of the most amazing acts of political generosity in modern times, when Mr Farage’s Brexit Party stood down in hundreds of Tory seats.
Some similar act of restraint and selflessness will be needed again, to get Labour out.
Every wounding remark, every snappish retort, every silly quibble and insult, help the Labour Party.
Differ by all means. Defect if you must. But remember who the real enemy is.
