Last Monday I was fortunate enough to attend “An Evening with Rory Stewart” to promote his latest book Middleland: Dispatches from the Border. I was initially nervous the conversation would become bogged down in ancient history topics of little interest to me. However, I’m pleased to say the discussion was endlessly riveting. Former Green Party MP Caroline Lucas conducted the interview and did a brilliant job of getting Stewart to relate his thoughts and feelings about Cumbria to national politics today.

There was lots to love about the event, but given my area of study, one particular part of evening stood out to me. During the audience question-and-answer session, a young woman in the flat floor seating of the auditorium voiced her displeasure at her own MP defecting to the Reform Party and asked if Rory would offer his feelings on defections and whether party switching is really legitimate without an election.

As I wasn’t recording the event, I can give only a rough approximation of Stewart’s answer but the following is what I recall:

Stewart first clarified that the woman lived in East Wiltshire and the defecting MP she was referring to the ex-Conservative and now Reform MP Danny Kruger. He was then quick to point out the irony that Kruger had been the person responsible for informing him that he’d been kicked out of the Conservative Party alongside figures like Nicholas Soames, Ken Clarke and Dominic Grieve for defying the party whip over a Brexit vote. The man who had once thought Stewart too left wing for the Conservatives was now leaving himself because the party wasn’t far enough to the right for him! His reflection on Kruger’s defection seemed both a source of personal amusement and exasperation that led him to call in to question how sincere Kruger’s affection and loyalty to the Conservative party had ever really been.

Stewart’s response wasn’t bitter so much as quietly incredulous. I wonder if he’ll be shocked by just how many of his former colleagues defect to Reform over the next few years.

As a final side note, Intelligence squared, the company that ran the event has its own podcast where they seem to post some of their past conversations so it’s worth keeping an eye out to see if a recording of the event I attended might be made available in the future.