Tim Montgomerie isn’t a politician. But he’s better known than some cabinet ministers. He founded Conservative Home, a pioneering political news website, in 2005, and was described in 2009 by Tory peer and Times columnist Daniel Finkelstein as ‘one of the most important Conservative activists of the past 20 years’ He also founded the Conservative Christian Fellowship. So his defection from the Tories to Reform UK in late 2024 caused a huge shock. This month, Reform UK suspended Montgomerie’s membership after deciding its love of freedom of speech didn’t apply to anyone criticising its deeply flawed leaders.

I don’t share his politics, but Montgomerie has always struck me as a decent and thoughtful man. As a co-host of the political podcast Not Another One he impressed me with his willingness to express views that were generous to political opponents, and his skill in presenting ideas that challenge my own world view. As I put it in a review of Not Another One in January, ‘Tim is endearingly open about the weaknesses of his new party, and far from a right wing caricature’. 

On Friday 14 August, Montgomerie told the BBC he was frustrated by party leader Nigel Farage’s ‘aggrieved tone’ after the Clacton by-election. And on a Spectator podcast he had said Zia Yusuf needed to become a team player and should not act ‘like a child’ in politics. Nigel Farage has made it plain that he hates anyone criticising or questioning him, so Montgomerie cannot be surprised that the nasty party’s commitment to freedom of speech is so selective.

What amazes me is that Tim was so naive in falling for the dubious charms of Reform UK. He’s been around the brutal world of politics for decades. His mistake was to assume that Reform would grow up into a responsible, serious political party. Conservative Home columnist Oliver Dean quoted one unnamed Tory MP as saying that Montgomerie’s fate was ‘as predictable as birds flying south in winter, adding that that Montgomerie was ‘not always right, but as a thoughtful Conservative he was a fish out of water in Reform.’ That seems a fair verdict. Countless times on Not Another One, when the latest Reform outrage or blunder was discussed, Montgomerie would accept the criticism but weakly say that ‘Nigel knows this has to change’.

I suspect this tendency to namedrop Nigel Farage was a sign that Montgomerie was trying to convince himself that his relationship to Reform’s leader was a sign of influence. That he could help reform Reform, a populist party that has all the potential to destroy any chance of real power through ego, toxic prejudices and a refusal to be come up with any serious solutions to Britain’s problems. The reality is that Reform is a one-man band with some seriously unpleasant challengers for Farage’s throne should the showman fall under a bus. Montgomerie never stood a chance.

Reform isn’t the only party that hates dissent. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch banned former cabinet minister Grant Shapps standing as a Tory parliamentary candidate after insisting that any candidate has to accept her controversial policy to join Russia and Belarus in rejecting the European Convention on Human Rights. (But if you’ve been jailed for antisemitism she’ll not bat an eyelid.) Former Labour leader Keir Starmer was similarly dictatorial in kicking out seven Labour MPs for voting against the two-child cap on child benefit. Less than two years later, he claimed he was ‘really proud’ to end the cap. British political parties used to be ‘broad churches’. But in today’s polarised world, where social media drives division, it seems too many want nothing to do with those who take a different stance.

To his credit, Tim Montgomerie believes in ‘agreeing disagreeably’ to quote the Not Another One mantra, and seeing good in political opponents. His Not Another One co-hosts seemed genuinely upset at his unhappiness at the way Reform has treated him. Tim says Nigel Farage was unaware of his suspension, adding that he’s going for a beer with Reform MP, and fellow Tory defector, Lee Anderson. Whether that will do anything other than confirm his mistake in joining such a toxic band of brothers remains to be seen.